Oil prices bump up cost of manufactured goods: StatsCan

Last Updated: Friday, January 4, 2008 | 9:46 AM ET

CBC News

Rising petroleum prices nudged up the cost of manufactured products and raw materials in November, Statistics Canada said Friday.

From October to November, prices charged by manufacturers rose a marginal 0.6 per cent after six months of consecutive declines.

The increase was almost exclusively the result of the surging cost of petroleum and coal products, but was also affected to a lesser extent by an increase in prices for chemicals as well as fruit, vegetables and feed products.

Statistics Canada's raw materials price index jumped 3.4 per cent from October to November, boosted solely by the rise in crude oil prices. That means raw materials cost plants 15.7 per cent more than in November 2006.

Still, the big picture shows that on a 12-month basis, prices for manufactured products dropped 0.6 per cent in November, continuing a downward trend.

Statistics Canada said the strong Canadian dollar in relation to the U.S. greenback had less of an impact on price declines than it had in the previous month.