The Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) index showed that export commodity prices registered a decline for the fourth straight month in December by 1 per cent.

In November, commodity export prices went down 0.2 per cent.

The RBA explained the fall to price of gold declining in the last month of 2011 and similar dips in prices of coking coal and iron ore which adjusted to lower spot and contract prices.

However, the index rose by 11 per cent in special drawing rights (SDR) terms due to the earlier increase in iron ore, coking coal and thermal coal export prices, the RBA said. Reckoned from 12 months, the index went up 10 per cent in Australian dollar terms while it fell 2.5 per cent in December.

SDR is computed by the International Monetary Fund on the basis of a weighed basket of the U.S. dollar, euro, Japanese yen and British pound sterling.

Although the price of gold went up rapidly in 2011 as investors considered the yellow metal a safe-haven asset due to volatility in the global financial situation due to the European debt crisis, gold started to lose some of its shimmer toward the end of the year. However, market experts said gold prices will likely rebound strong and continue to go up until 2013.

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