The Bank of Canada commodity price index (BCPI) is a chain Fisher price index of the spot or transaction prices in U.S. dollars of 26 commodities produced in Canada and sold in world markets. You can download BCPI data and read about its components and methodology.
Data
Components
Energy
- Coal
-
(US$/tonne) long-term contract price for Canadian exports of metallurgical coal
- Oil
-
(US$/barrel) West Texas Intermediate front month futures, New York mercantile Exchange (NYMEX)
(US$/barrel) Brent front month futures, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE)
(US$/barrel) front month futures of Net Energy Canadian Heavy Crude Oil index, Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME)
- Natural Gas
-
(US$/MMBtu) Henry Hub natural gas front month futures, New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX)
Metal and Minerals
- Gold
-
(US$/oz.) Handy and Harman base price, N.Y.
- Silver
-
(US$/oz.) Handy and Harman base price, N.Y.
- Nickel
-
(US$/lb.) LME cash settlement
- Copper
-
(US$/lb.) LME cash settlement
- Aluminium
-
(US$/lb.) LME cash settlement
- Zinc
-
(US$/lb.) LME cash settlement
- Potash
-
(US$/tonne) standard potassium chloride, spot price, f.o.b. Vancouver
- Lead
-
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics - Producer Price Index
- Iron
-
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics - Producer Price Index
Forestry
- Pulp
-
(US$/tonne) northern bleached softwood Kraft pulp. From June 12th, 2018, the series is grown using US PPI Woodpulp Index (1982=100).
- Lumber
-
(US$/thousand board feet) spruce-pine-fir, 2"x4", f.o.b. at Prince George
- Newsprint
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(US$/ tonne) 30 pound newsprint price. From June 12th, 2018, the series is grown using US PPI Newsprint Index (1982=100).
Agriculture
- Potatoes
-
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics - Producer Price Index
- Cattle
-
(US$/100 lb.) Steer feeder, Oklahoma city
- Hogs
-
(US$/100 lb.) Iowa – South Minnesota average
- Wheat
-
(US$/bushel) U.S. #1 spring wheat, 14% protein
- Barley
-
(US$/bushel) Saskatchewan aggregate spot price
- Canola
-
(US$/bushel) #1 Canada in store Vancouver
- Corn
-
(US$/bushel) U.S. corn #2, Central
Fisheries
- Finfish
-
Prices obtained from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics/Haver Analytics.
- Shellfish
-
Prices obtained from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics/Haver Analytics.
A Note on Prices
The prices for many of the commodities in the index are the averages of daily data. Prices for some commodities are available only weekly (these are usually available several weeks after the reference period) or monthly (usually available two months after the reference period). The weekly series are the averages for the five business days ending with the Wednesday. The monthly series are the averages for all days in the month. When data for the reference period are not immediately available, the most recent available data are repeated until the actual data are received. The series are revised when the actual data become available.
As of August 11, 2016, the source for lumber in the BCPI switched from Bloomberg Energy to Random Lengths. The data has been updated retroactively back to January 8, 2010.
As of October 26, 2017, the coal price series has been revised over history to reflect the most up-to-date data from Natural Resources Canada.
This revision weights the various commodities within the BCPI by Canadian production values that are consistent with Statistics Canada’s Comprehensive Revision of the Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (2015).
As of March 28, 2018, the source of the barley price has been switched from the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange to the Cash Grain Bid via Bloomberg L.P..
Methodology
The BCPI weights are constructed using primarily data from input-output (IO) tables computed by Statistics Canada, which are only available with a four-year lag (currently up to 2012). Other data sources are used when the IO disaggregation is insufficient to permit individual commodity value calculations.
Projecting Weights Forward
In the previous methodology, the weights were held constant at their last historical values for those years where the input-output data were not yet available. The current BCPI methodology, as presented in the July 2012 Monetary Policy Report, projects individual commodity weights from the Input-Output reference year (currently 2012) through the last period in which full-year historical price and production data is available (currently 2015).
The weights are approximated using changes in Canadian commodity prices and proxies of commodity production volumes. Specifically, the percentage change in Canadian production value (from which the weights are derived) is approximated by the product of the annual percentage changes in the commodity price and the estimated Canadian production volume. Production volumes are proxied using available data from official sources, including Statistics Canada, National Resources Canada, and the National Energy Board.
In addition, weights for the current year are now estimated based on projected annual percentage changes in commodity prices. These weights are reassessed four times a year to reflect the most recent projection of commodity prices. Updated weights are published on the website the Thursday following the release of the Monetary Policy Report.
Crude Oil Component Weights
The weights of individual oil benchmarks are inferred over history from Statistics Canada’s total crude oil production values using the same methodology described above. Volume estimates are taken from the National Energy Board. Prior to 1996, the value shares of each crude oil component are held constant at their 1996 level. A complete breakdown of the historical crude oil component weights can be found in the “Weights Data” link displayed above.