Skip to content
Bank of Canada
FR
FR
  • About The Bank

    About the Bank

    • The Bank's History
    • The Bank's Head Office
    • Photos & Videos
    • Contact Information
    • Archives

    Corporate Governance

    • Board of Directors
    • Governing Council and Senior Management
    • Governance Documents

    Educational Resources

    • Backgrounders
    • Financial Education Resources
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    careers-menu

    Careers

    Take a central role at the Bank of Canada.

  • Core Functions

    Core Functions

    • Monetary Policy
    • Financial System
    • Currency
    • Funds Management

    Featured Links

    • Key Interest Rate: Target for the Overnight Rate
    img_BoC_Currency_07

    Unclaimed Balances

    Banks and federally chartered trust and loan companies are required to transfer to the Bank of Canada all unclaimed bank balances maintained in Canada in Canadian currency that have been inactive for a period of 10 years.

    Toward 2021

    Toward 2021

    Reviewing the Monetary Policy Framework.

  • Markets

    Markets

    • About Financial Markets
    • Market Notices
    • Term Repos
    • Market Operations and Liquidity Provision
    • Canadian Fixed-Income Forum
    • Canadian Alternative Reference Rate Working Group

    Government Securities Auctions

    • Calls for Tenders and Results
    • Schedules and Results
    • Rules and Terms
    • Forms and Certificates
    • Data
    • Definitions and Formulas

    Market Notices

    April 9, 2018
    Release of the 2017 Bank of Canada FMI Oversight Activities Annual Report
    March 27, 2018
    Government of Canada Debt Distribution Framework Review Consultations

    See More

  • Bank Notes

    Bank Notes

    • Bank Note Series
    • Counterfeit Prevention
    • Contaminated and Mutilated Bank Notes
    • Audience-specific Resources
    • Bank Note Videos
    • Image Gallery
    Desmond - Callout image

    Canada’s Vertical $10 Note

    Explore and share the $10 polymer bank note featuring Viola Desmond, which begins circulating in late 2018.

    header image

    Upcoming changes to legal tender status for older bank notes

    Find out what removing legal tender status means and which bank notes are affected.

  • Publications

    Publications

    • Annual & Quarterly Report
    • Bank of Canada Review
    • Business Outlook Survey
    • Financial System Review
    • Monetary Policy Report
    • Senior Loan Officer Survey
    • Books and Monographs

    Browse Publications

    Browse and filter Bank of Canada publications by author, JEL code, topic and content type.

    Statistical Publications

    • Banking and Financial Statistics
    • Summary of Government of Canada Direct Securities and Loans
    MPR - 2018-04 - Cover - EN

    Monetary Policy Report – April 2018

    The Bank’s new forecast calls for economic growth of 2.0 percent this year, 2.1 per cent in 2019 and 1.8 per cent in 2020.

  • Research

    Research

    • Browse Research
    • Staff Analytical Notes
    • Staff Discussion Papers
    • Staff Working Papers
    • Technical Reports

    People

    • Economic Staff
    • Author List

    Awards and Collaboration

    • Research Paper Awards
    • Visiting Scholar Program
    • Fellowship Program
    • The Governor's Challenge
    • Conferences, Seminars and Workshops
    • Scholarships
    Digital Currencies and Fintech

    Digital Currencies and Fintech

    Understanding digital currencies and related financial technologies is an important part of our research agenda.

  • Press

    Press

    • Announcements
    • Press Releases
    • Interviews
    • Speeches
    • Upcoming Events
    • Webcasts

    Browse Press

    Browse and filter Bank of Canada press content by topic, author, location and content type.

    Info

    • Media Advisories
    • Media Contacts
    • Blackout Guidelines
    • Principles for External Communication
    Webcast - MPR April18

    Monetary Policy Report - Press Conference (Webcasts) - April 2018

    Release of the Monetary Policy Report - Press conference by Governor Stephen S. Poloz and Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn A. Wilkins. (11:15 (ET) approx.).

  • Statistics

    Statistics

    • Daily Digest
    • Exchange Rates
    • Interest Rates
    • Price Indexes
    • Indicators
    • Banking and Financial Statistics

    Related Information

    • Inflation Calculator
    • Investment Calculator
    • Official International Reserves
    • Credit Conditions

    Banking and Financial Statistics

    A compilation of banking and financial indicators, including the Bank of Canada’s assets and liabilities, credit and monetary aggregates, chartered banks data and selected financial market statistics.

  • Home
  • Statistics
  • Price Indexes
  • Commodity Price Index

Commodity Price Index

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

Monthly BCPI

  • CSV
  • JSON
  • XML

Weekly BCPI

  • CSV
  • JSON
  • XML

Annual BCPI

  • CSV
  • JSON
  • XML

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

Lumber

(US$/thousand board feet) spruce-pine-fir, 2"x4", f.o.b. at Prince George

Newsprint

(US$/ tonne) 30 pound newsprint price

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) #1 CW at Lethbridge

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).

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.

About

  • Contact
  • Careers
  • Press
  • FAQs

Affiliate Sites

  • Bank of Canada Museum
  • Credit Conditions
  • Canada Savings Bonds
  • Canadian Foreign Exchange Committee
  • Unclaimed Balances

Legal

  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy
  • Access to Information & Privacy (ATIP)
  • Info Source
  • Internet Scams

Follow the Bank

  • Twitter - News
  • Twitter - Jobs
  • Youtube
  • Flickr
  • LinkedIn
  • Upcoming Events
  • RSS Feeds
  • Email Alerts