Industrial, raw material inflation jumps

Canadian producer prices and raw material prices rose far faster than expected in February, according to Statistics Canada data released on Wednesday.

Industrial product prices were up 0.7 percent from January, more than double the 0.3 percent forecast by analysts surveyed by Reuters. January's rise was also revised to 0.4 percent from an originally reported 0.2 percent.

The February rise was led by a 3.0-percent jump in oil and coal products, and primary metal products. The overall rise was tempered by Canadian dollar strength; without this effect, the index would have risen by 0.9 percent.

Raw material prices rose by 1.8 percent, more than three times the 0.5 percent pace predicted by economists. This was mainly because of nonferrous metals, animals and vegetable products.

In the case of the raw materials index, energy moderated its rise. Mineral fuels edged up 0.1 percent; excluding mineral fuels, raw material prices climbed 3.3 percent.