Monthly prices for manufactured goods at the factory gate and raw materials prices moved lower in October on a drop in the price of petroleum-related commodities, Statistics Canada said today.

Prices charged by manufacturers, as measured by the industrial product price index, declined 0.1% from September to October.

Year-over-year, the index was up 1.4%, compared to September’s increase of 0.9%, largely due to higher prices for petroleum products as well as chemical products compared to last year.

Raw materials prices fell 1.4% from September to October, following a 0.3% decrease the previous month, with falling prices in mineral fuels and ferrous materials.

Compared to October of last year, raw materials cost factories 8.3% more, down from the 12-month change of 14.4% for September.

Petroleum and coal products prices decreased 3.2% compared to September, the first decrease in five months. Excluding petroleum and coal product prices, the IPPI would have increased 0.3% rather than decreasing 0.1%.

Prices for chemical products rose 1.6% due to increases for industrial chemicals.

Prices for primary metal products were down 5.6% from a year ago as decreases were observed for primary steel products, down 15.4%, primary nickel products, down 15.1%, and primary aluminum products, down 4.2%.