CANBERRA: Export prices in Australia slipped 0.8 percent in the first three months of 2015, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.That missed forecasts for a flat reading, which would have been unchanged from the previous three months.
Among the individual components, prices for minerals were down 3.5 percent on quarter, followed by crude materials (-1.7 percent), manufactured goods (-1.0 percent) and vegetable oils (-0.4 percent).
Prices were 4.6 percent higher on quarter for machinery, followed by chemicals (3.3 percent), commodities (2.0 percent), tobacco (1.7 percent) and food (0.6 percent).On a yearly basis, export prices plummeted 12.2 percent.
Among the individual components, prices for crude materials plummeted 27.9 percent on year, followed by mineral fuels (-11.5 percent), vegetable oils (-7.9 percent) and commodities (-3.7 percent).
Prices were 9.0 percent higher for food, followed by machinery (8.3 percent), manufactured goods (7.3 percent) and chemicals (5.4 percent).
Import prices dipped 0.2 percent on quarter versus forecasts for an increase of 1.0 percent following the 0.9 percent gain in Q4.
Among the individual components, prices for minerals plummeted 22.7 percent on quarter, and commodity prices shed 3.9 percent.
Prices were higher for machinery (4.9 percent), manufactured goods (3.3 percent), chemicals (2.8 percent) and tobacco (1.1 percent).
