(Adds details from report)
OTTAWA, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Canadian producer prices unexpectedly fell in August as meat and dairy products saw the largest decrease in nearly nine years, while lower prices for energy and petroleum products also weighed, data from Statistics Canada showed on Friday.
The 0.5 percent decline in producer prices fell well short of analysts' expectations for an increase of 0.1 percent.
The decline was mainly attributable to a 2.3-percent drop in prices for meat, fish and dairy products, the category's largest decline since October 2007. Lower prices for fresh and frozen pork, beef and veal drove the decrease.
The lower prices coincided with a 25.5 percent annual drop in the price of cattle and calves in August, the statistics agency said.
Prices for energy and petroleum products declined 1.3 percent. Excluding the category, overall producer prices were down just 0.3 percent.
Raw materials prices also declined 0.7 percent, though the pace was not as steep as July's 2.7 percent decrease. Of the index's six major commodity groups, five were lower.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Graphic - Canada producer prices
http://link.reuters.com/cuj92t Graphic - Canada economic dashboard
http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/15/sc-canada/index.html
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