The RBA has released its commodity price index for March, which registered another 1.7% fall in SDR (currency weighted) terms – the key determinant of the terms-of-trade – and a 2.8% fall in Australian dollar terms:
Preliminary estimates for March indicate that the index declined by 1.7 per cent (on a monthly average basis) in SDR terms, after declining by 3.7 per cent in February (revised). The largest contributor to the decline in March was the price of iron ore. The rural commodities subindex fell while the base metals subindex rose during the month. In Australian dollar terms, the index declined by 2.8 per cent in March.
