MARCH KEY FIGURES

	Dec Qtr 14 to Mar Qtr 15	Mar Qtr 14 to Mar Qtr 15
STAGE OF PRODUCTION	% change	% change
Final demand (excl. exports)	0.5	0.7
Domestic	0.2	0.4
Imports	2.8	4.2
Intermediate demand	-0.3	-1.0
Domestic	-0.2	-0.6
Imports	-0.7	-4.1
Preliminary demand	-0.8	-2.3
Domestic	-0.4	-1.4
Imports	-3.1	-7.5

Stage of Production Final Demand

Stage of Production Final Demand, Quarterly % change

MARCH KEY POINTS


FINAL DEMAND (EXCL. EXPORTS)

• rose 0.5% in the March quarter 2015.
• mainly due to rises in the prices received for computer and electronic equipment manufacturing (+7.5%), building construction (+0.8%) and other transport equipment manufacturing (+7.4%).
• partly offset by falls in the prices received for petroleum refining and petroleum fuel manufacturing (–17.0%) and pharmaceutical and medicinal product manufacturing (–12.8%).
• rose 0.7% through the year to the March quarter 2015.

INTERMEDIATE DEMAND

• fell 0.3% in the March quarter 2015.
• mainly due to falls in the prices received for oil and gas extraction (–23.2%) and petroleum refining and petroleum fuel manufacturing (–17.6%).
• partly offset by rises in the prices received for grain, sheep, beef and dairy farming (+6.1%), other agricultural products (+5.5%) and textile, leather, clothing and footwear manufacturing (+4.5%).
• fell 1.0% through the year to the March quarter 2015.

PRELIMINARY DEMAND

• fell 0.8% in the March quarter 2015.
• mainly due to falls in the prices received for oil and gas extraction (–23.0%), petroleum refining and petroleum fuel manufacturing (–18.7%) and metal ore mining (–3.5%).
• partly offset by rises in the prices received for grain, sheep, beef and dairy farming (+5.8%), coal mining (+8.6%) and computer and electronic equipment manufacturing (+6.4%).
• fell 2.3% through the year to the March quarter 2015.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE (QUARTER)	Release Date
March 2015 Update	26 May 2015
June 2015	31 July 2015
June 2015 Update September 2015 December 2015	25 August 2015 30 October 2015 29 January 2016

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The Australian Producer Price Indexes (PPIs) measure the change in the prices of products (goods and services) as they leave the place of production or as they enter the production process. The Australian Government repealed carbon pricing effective from 1 July 2014. It is not possible to quantify the impact of removing the carbon price on the price change measured by the PPI.

In the Information paper: Outcome of the Review of the Producer and International Trade Price Indexes, 2012 (cat. no. 6427.0.55.004) the ABS undertook to release an updated Producer and International Trade Price Indexes: Concepts, Sources and Methods (cat. no. 6429.0) publication. This was released on 20 August 2014.

The ABS has published the quarterly Producer Price Index for the Output of the Retail Trade Industry (RTPI) from 25 February 2014. The RTPI will be released as an additional update of the Producer Price Index, Australia publication (cat. no. 6427.0). The RTPI will be released in electronic format as a data cube on the ABS website on the 26 May 2015.

From the December quarter 2014, the Producer Price Index, Australia (cat. no. 6427.0) publication is available from the ABS website in electronic format only. The September quarter 2014 release of this publication was the final issue that contains a PDF version. There will be no change to the suite of Producer Price Indexes published.


ROUNDING

Any discrepancies between totals and sums of components 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>.


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INQUIRIES

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