The RBA has released its commodity price index for July, which registered a sharp 5.0% decline in SDR (currency weighted) terms – the key determinant of the terms-of-trade – and a 1.7% fall in Australian dollar terms:
Preliminary estimates for July indicate that the index fell by 5.0 per cent (on a monthly average basis) in SDR terms, after rising by 1.5 per cent in June (revised). The largest contributors to the decline in July were the prices of iron ore and coking coal. The base metals and rural commodities subindices both fell in the month. In Australian dollar terms, the index declined by 1.7 per cent in July.
