{"id":367379,"date":"2026-04-07T06:03:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T06:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/367379\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T06:03:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T06:03:08","slug":"anz-commodity-price-index-hits-record-as-middle-east-war-bites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/367379\/","title":{"rendered":"ANZ commodity price index hits record as Middle East war bites"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was the second-highest month on record for the index in world price terms, eclipsed only by its March 2022 reading, which spiked higher on the outbreak of the war between Russia and Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

All components of the world price index rose in March except horticulture, which is between seasons.<\/p>\n

Dairy prices rose 5.9% in the month as importers increased purchases to secure supply.<\/p>\n

\u201cGlobal dairy prices were rising even before the current Middle East conflict started, but current events have pushed prices even higher,\u201d ANZ said.<\/p>\n

\u201cImporters have increased purchases in response to concerns about supply chain disruption.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, global milk supply remains healthy, so higher prices might not be sustained once purchasing behaviours return to normal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aluminium prices rose 9.8% in March after a large smelter in the United Arab Emirates sustained major damage, which will take several months to repair.<\/p>\n

Gulf Co-operation Council countries usually account for 8-9% of global production.<\/p>\n

The meat and fibre index increased 2.4% in March and is up 19.1% year on year.<\/p>\n

Overseas demand remained strong for both beef and lamb, despite recent events, and supply is constrained, ANZ said.<\/p>\n

This could change in the coming months as New Zealand supply increases on a seasonal basis, it said.<\/p>\n

Wool prices dropped 2.8% in March but have risen 48.9% year on year.<\/p>\n

The horticulture index was unchanged in March.<\/p>\n

The New Zealand harvests for apples and kiwifruit are well underway, but in-market prices are unavailable until the new season\u2019s produce reaches its destination.<\/p>\n

The forestry index rose 3.1% month on month in March but was down 5.3% year on year.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s construction activity remained a concern, ANZ said.<\/p>\n

Higher shipping costs, mostly because of fuel surcharges, will further erode margins on New Zealand log exports, the bank said.<\/p>\n

The majority of New Zealand\u2019s logs are sold to China, where they are used in construction.<\/p>\n

Jamie Gray is an Auckland-based journalist, covering the financial markets, the primary sector and energy. He joined the Herald in 2011.<\/p>\n

Stay ahead with the latest market moves, corporate updates, and economic insights by subscribing to our\u00a0Business newsletter<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 your essential weekly round-up of all the business news you need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was the second-highest month on record for the index in world price terms, eclipsed only by its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367380,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[9092,12465,18464,806,16640,138,27008,7011,543,3806,2959,4508,23500,13986,16609,46663,1535,10110,15219,111,139,69,3333,1974,6149],"class_list":{"0":"post-367379","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-against","9":"tag-anz","10":"tag-anzs","11":"tag-as","12":"tag-bites","13":"tag-business","14":"tag-commodity","15":"tag-dollar","16":"tag-driven","17":"tag-east","18":"tag-high","19":"tag-hits","20":"tag-impact","21":"tag-index","22":"tag-iran","23":"tag-israels","24":"tag-march","25":"tag-middle","26":"tag-mostly","27":"tag-new-zealand","28":"tag-newzealand","29":"tag-nz","30":"tag-price","31":"tag-record","32":"tag-war"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}