TORONTO, ON - November 28, 2013 /CNW/ - Scotiabank's Commodity Price Index fell by 3.8% month over month (m/m) in October -- the third consecutive monthly decline. While the All Items Index has levelled out so far this year, commodity prices have lost steam since May and are currently 7.4% below a year earlier.

"On the upside, metals and minerals are approaching a cyclical bottom and much of the unwinding of high grain and oilseed prices linked to this Fall's monster-sized North American crops is over," said Patricia Mohr, Scotiabank's Vice President of Economics and Commodity Market Specialist. "Commodity prices should steady as 2014 unfolds." 

Highlights in the report include:

• Oil pricing dynamics begin to change across North America.
• Railways are taking up the challenge of delivering Western Canada's crude to new markets across North America, including the US Gulf Coast and Atlantic Canada.
• China's new leadership announced a new Reform Agenda, after the Third Plenum of the Central Committee on November 9-12 in Beijing -- potentially a watershed development for China and the global economy. China currently accounts for 45.8% of world demand for the four key base metals (copper, zinc, aluminium and nickel) -- the United States only 9.9%. 

Read the full Scotiabank Commodity Price Index at http://www.scotiabank.com/ca/en/0,,3112,00.html.

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Patricia Mohr
Scotiabank Economics
(416) 866-4210
patricia.mohr@scotiabank.com

Devinder Lamsar
Scotiabank Media Communications
(416) 933-1171
devinder.lamsar@scotiabank.com