Export prices in Australia were unchanged on quarter in the fourth quarter of 2014, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.
That beat forecasts for a decline of 1.0 percent following the 3.9 percent tumble in the third quarter.
Among the individual components, prices for animal oils climbed 9.9 percent on quarter, followed by chemicals (4.2 percent), food (4.0 percent), machinery (3.9 percent), manufactured articles (3.6 percent), mineral fuels (1.5 percent), commodities (0.8 percent) and beverages (0.5 percent).
Prices for crude materials excluding fuels were down 4.4 percent.
Import prices climbed 0.9 percent on quarter versus expectations for an increase of 1.4 percent after shedding 0.8 percent in the three months prior.
Individually, prices for crude materials climbed 5.0 percent, followed by manufactured articles (4.8 percent), machinery (3.4 percent), food (3.0 percent), chemicals (2.1 percent) and commodities (1.1 percent).
Prices for mineral fuels tumbled 11.1 percent and beverage prices dipped 0.8 percent.
On a yearly basis, export prices dropped 9.1 percent.
Individually, prices for manufactured goods climbed 12.8 percent on year, followed by food (11.5 percent), machinery (5.3 percent), chemicals (4.0 percent) and beverages (2.7 percent).
Prices for crude materials plummeted 26.2 percent, while animal oil prices dropped 5.6 percent and commodity prices dipped 1.5 percent.
Import prices added 0.3 percent on year.
Individually, prices for crude materials jumped 11.5 percent on year, followed by food (10.7 percent), chemicals (4.9 percent), machinery (3.4 percent) and manufactured goods (1.0 percent).
Prices for mineral fuels tumbled 15.2 percent on year, and commodity prices fell 2.5 percent.
Also on Thursday, a leading economic index for the Australian economy showed slight improvement in November, the Conference Board said, adding 0.1 percent.
That follows the 0.2 percent decline in October. Rural goods exports and building approvals provided the largest positive contributions.
The coincident index climbed 0.5 percent following the 0.2 percent gain in the previous month.
Taken together, the recent behavior of the indexes suggests that the economic expansion should continue in the near term, but the pace is unlikely to pick up much in early 2015, the board said.
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