September 25, 2009
Canadian farm prices see 12-percent drop
The price of Canadian farms' products fell 12 percent in July from year earlier levels, Statistics Canada said on Wednesday (Sept 23).
The Agency's farm product price index fell for livestock and crops, the federal government agency said.
The prices producers received for crops in July were 18.7-percent lower compared with July 2008. The decline in the crops index was due to decreases recorded by all commodities except potatoes, Statistics Canada said.
The prices producers received for livestock and animal products fell 3.3 percent in July compared with July 2008. Decreases were recorded for all commodities except poultry and dairy, Statistics Canada said.
In July prices paid producers for hogs were down for the fourth consecutive month.
Hog producers continue to be faced with the US Country-of-Origin Labelling (COOL) legislation, concerns about the AH1N1 and lower demand driven by the economic crisis, Statistics Canada said.
The Canadian government promised on August 15 more assistance for the domestic hog industry. However, details of how these programmes will operate have yet to be sketched out.
