World prices for a basket of New Zealand's export commodities eased last month but a softer exchange rate more than compensated for the decline.
ANZ's commodity price index fell 0.4 per cent after four consecutive monthly rises. It still left the index 1 per cent higher than it was two months earlier and just 2 per cent off its all-time high last April. It is 21 per cent up on a year ago.
The steepest fall was in aluminium, down 4 per cent to a four-year low.
Dairy products were mixed. Whole milk powder fell 3 per cent but skim milk powder rose 3 per cent.
Lamb, beef and wool prices all rose 1.5 per cent, but kiwifruit, lumber and casein eased.
