Canadian Farm Price Index Slips in May

OTTAWA - Jul 29/02 - SNS -- Average prices received by Canadian agricultural producers slipped in May as advances in most cereals and oilseeds were offset by losses in livestock earnings, suggests the latest farm product price index (FPPI) data compiled by Statistics Canada.

Prices received by farmers for their agricultural commodities fell 0.9% in May from May 2001, the first month to show a year-to-year decrease after 27 consecutive months of increases.

Crop prices climbed 11.6% from May 2001, while prices received for all livestock and animal products fell 7.8%. The crop index has seen increases in the 12-month change starting in September 2000. The livestock index has fallen year-to-year in five out of the last seven months, after 26 months of continuous year-to-year increases.

The livestock index fell 0.9% in May from April, the second monthly drop after rising for three consecutive months. Although the hogs and poultry indexes showed a monthly increase, they were more than offset by decreases in the cattle and calves and the dairy indexes.

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