While price pressures continued to ease on an annual basis, rising energy prices drove industrial and raw material prices higher in August, Statistics Canada says.

Prices for raw materials were up 3.0% from July to August, but declined by 4.3% on a year-over-year basis, StatsCan reported.

Energy price trends drove the Raw Materials Price Index (RMPI), the national statistical agency reported.

In August energy prices were up 7.4%, following a 7.8% rise in July.

However, even with these recent gains, energy prices were still down 11.9% year over year, it said.

Excluding energy products, the RMPI was up 0.2% in August, and it was up 1.2% year over year, the data showed.

Similar trends were evident for prices of products manufactured in Canada.

StatsCan reported that its Industrial Product Price Index (IPPI) rose by 1.3% in August as the index recorded its first monthly increase since October 2022, but it was down by 0.5% year over year.

Refined petroleum energy prices, which were up 10.6% in August, led the monthly increase in the IPPI.

Yet, prices for these products were still down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis, it said.