KEY POINTS:
Export commodity prices plunged a record 7.4 per cent last month, but the exchange rate fell faster, leaving returns 0.7 per cent higher in kiwi dollar terms.
ANZ's commodity price index fell for the third month in a row. It is now 15 per cent below its peak in July and back where it was in May last year.
At the time that was a record high in the 22-year history of the index. In New Zealand dollar terms the index remains just below the all-time high it hit in August.
The latest decline was broad-based. Nine of the 13 commodities declined and only three rose.
The steepest fall was in beef prices, which dropped 18 per cent from September.
ANZ economist Steve Edwards said the latest drop largely reflected a drop in demand due to increased economic uncertainty and a surplus of cheap chicken and pork in the United States.
Supply had risen as Australia and Uruguay returned to the US market, which takes more than 40 per cent of New Zealand's beef exports.
Dairy prices fell 10 per cent and are back where they were in the middle of last year.
The only commodities to rise, modestly, were kiwifruit, apples and seafood. Venison was unchanged.
