The price of raw materials and manufactured goods at the factory gate declined in September for the second straight month, mainly due to falling petroleum prices, Statistics Canada reported today.

Prices charged by manufacturers were down 1.6% in September after a 0.5% drop in August, StatsCan said.

Meanwhile raw materials were down 5.2% after a 3.7% decline a month earlier, their largest monthly decrease since November 2004.

Driven mainly by higher prices for primary metal products, manufactured goods were up 1.3% over a year ago, a lower rate of year-over-year growth than August’s 3.6%.

Prices for primary metal products were up 28.5% compared to September 2005, while prices for nickel products rose 86% from a year earlier, copper products were up 77%, refined zinc products were at 127.4% and aluminum products had risen 14.9%.

Prices were also higher than a year earlier for pulp-and-paper products, rubber, leather and plastic fabricated products, metal fabricated products, meat, fish and dairy products, non-metallic mineral products and tobacco products.

Prices for petroleum and coal products, however, had dropped 11.3% from September 2005, the first year-over-year decrease since March 2004, while prices for motor vehicles and other transport equipment were down 3.5% due to the stronger Canadian dollar.