IDEX Polished Price Index Rallies in June, Amid Tariffs Anxiety
July 03, 25
(IDEX Online) - The IDEX Polished Price Index rallied in June, with the biggest monthly rise since the post-Covid bounce back.
The overall trend remains downwards, but the Index jumped 4.83 per cent in the month, reflecting anxiety over US reciprocal tariffs, which are due to take effect on 9 July after a 90-day reprieve.
It's not the first time that tariffs have forced prices up. President Donald Trump's initial tariff announcement caused the Index to spike for a couple of days in April, but it settled down to a 0.58 per cent monthly increase.
In June the overall picture was that prices declined slowly, then spiked for a couple days towards the end of month. The Index closed up 4.83 per cent, the biggest rise since January 2022, when it increased 5.67 per cent. Prices dropped slightly in May.
The overall trend remains downwards, as it has since early 2022, with the June increase making no impact as yet.
Month-to-month prices in June performed slightly better than May, down by 0.8 per cent compared to 1.1 per cent. In the 39 months since March 2022 there have been only four monthly increases.
It was a similar picture for year-to-year prices, down 10.9 per cent in June, compared to 11.4 per cent in May. Year-to-year prices have fallen every month since December 2022.
Prices of 1.5-cts to 3.0-cts goods suffered heavier month-to-month falls in June than in May, but 0.50-cts and 1.0-cts fared better and 4.0-cts gained 2.2 per cent. Overall it was a more mixed picture than May, when prices fell for all sizes shown below.
Year-on-year price movements in June were largely similar to those in May, with all sizes down. Losses were most marked among 0.50-cts and 1.0-cts.
Year-on-year prices were down for all sizes shown below, except for 4.0-cts, which bucked the trend.
