Australia’s producer price index rose by 0.4pc in the first quarter of the year from the last quarter ending December 2020 while it increased by 0.2pc from the same quarter last year, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Under the house construction industry, the cost of metal products increased by 1.3pc mainly driven by an increase in the cost of aluminum products by 1.1pc in Q1 2021 compared to Q4 2020.
Under the manufacturing sector, the primary metal and metal products manufacturing rose by 3.1pc mainly because of the increased demand for nickel and copper globally. ABS stated that refining and smelting of copper and zinc also rose by 7.2pc in the three-month period compared to the previous quarter.