DECEMBER KEY FIGURES

	Sep Qtr 08 to Dec Qtr 08	Dec Qtr 07 to Dec Qtr 08
STAGE OF PRODUCTION	% change	% change
Final (Stage 3) commodities (excl. exports)	1.3	6.4
Domestic	-0.5	4.9
Imports	14.8	16.4
Intermediate (Stage 2) commodities	0.9	9.5
Domestic	0.0	7.4
Imports	6.8	24.0
Preliminary (Stage 1) commodities	0.3	11.9
Domestic	0.0	9.8
Imports	1.7	25.7

Final Stage, Base 1998-99 = 100.0

Final Stage, Quarterly % change

DECEMBER KEY POINTS


FINAL (STAGE 3) COMMODITIES

• increased by 1.3% in the December quarter 2008.
• mainly due to price increases in industrial machinery and equipment manufacturing (+12.8%), electronic equipment manufacturing (+21.4%), other manufacturing (+8.1%) and other transport equipment manufacturing (+17.4%).
• partially offset by price decreases in petroleum refining (-29.1%).
• increased by 6.4% through the year to December quarter 2008.
• imported commodities were impacted by exchange rate driven price increases.

INTERMEDIATE (STAGE 2) COMMODITIES

• increased by 0.9% in the December quarter 2008.
• mainly due to price increases in coal mining (+30.3%), iron and steel manufacturing (+12.5%) and basic chemical manufacturing (+14.6%).
• partially offset by price decreases in oil and gas extraction (-23.7%), petroleum refining (-22.1%) and basic non-ferrous metal manufacturing (-18.5%).
• increased by 9.5% through the year to December quarter 2008.
• some commodities were impacted by exchange rate driven price increases.

PRELIMINARY (STAGE 1) COMMODITIES

• increased by 0.3% in the December quarter 2008.
• mainly due to price increases in coal mining (+30.3%), basic chemical manufacturing (+14.3%), iron and steel manufacturing (+12.3%) and other mining (+15.0%).
• partially offset by price decreases in oil and gas extraction (-23.7%), petroleum refining (-22.7%) and basic non-ferrous metal manufacturing (-18.5%).
• increased by 11.9% through the year to December quarter 2008.
• some commodities were impacted by exchange rate driven price increases.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE (QUARTER)	Release Date
March 2009	20 April 2009
June 2009	20 July 2009
September 2009	26 October 2009
December 2009	25 January 2010

CHANGES IN FUTURE ISSUES

As notified in the September quarter 2008 issue, the content and format of this publication and related series on the ABS website will change from September quarter 2009, to reflect an updated weighting pattern and the contemporary industrial classification (ANZSIC06). The March quarter 2009 issue of this publication will contain information on the impacts of the new classification, including any changes to existing series, such as indexes that will no longer be available. The updated weighting pattern will not extend to the Stage of Production (SOP) indexes, as the data required to update the SOP weights on an ANZSIC06 basis are not available. It will therefore not be possible to produce the SOP indexes on an ANZSIC06 basis in the September quarter 2009 issue. The ABS is currently undertaking a broader review of the SOP indexes. As part of this review, consideration is being given to the options available in respect of publication of the SOP indexes from September quarter 2009 onwards.

The ABS welcomes input to the SOP review, including any feedback on future publication of the SOP series. If you would like any further information on, or like to provide input to, the SOP review, please contact Christine McLaughlin, Director, Producer Price Indexes Section, by e-mail to christine.mclaughlin@abs.gov.au, facsimile on (02) 6252 7060, mail to Locked Bag 10, Belconnen, ACT 2616, or (02) 6252 6252. Comments should be provided, preferably in writing, by 1 March 2009.


ROUNDING

Any discrepancies between totals and sums of components in this publication are due to rounding.


DATA REFERENCES

Data referenced in the Key points and Commentary are available from the tables shown in this publication, or in the corresponding tables of this publication on the ABS website <https://www.abs.gov.au>.


INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Lee Taylor on Canberra (02) 6252 6251.


SUMMARY COMMENTARY


COMMENTARY

Links to Other Parts of This Release

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Commentary

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Price Indexes and Contract Price Indexation