Machinery and equipment price indexes

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The Machinery and equipment price index (MEPI) declined by 0.8% in the second quarter compared with the previous quarter. The import component declined by 1.4% over this period, while the domestic series was unchanged. Compared with the second quarter of 2010, the total MEPI decreased by 2.5%, with the import component declining 4.4% while the domestic component increased by 0.7%.

Except for fishing, hunting and trapping (+0.2%) and warehousing and storage (+0.1%), all other industries posted decreases in the prices of machinery and equipment purchased in the second quarter. The largest contributor to the total MEPI decline were the finance, insurance and real estate industries (-1.0%), led by the real estate and rental and leasing services subcomponent (-1.0%). The second largest contributor to the quarterly decline of the total MEPI were manufacturing industries (-0.7%), led by a price decline in transportation equipment manufacturing (-0.5%) and a 0.7% decrease in both the primary metal and fabricated metal product manufacturing and the paper manufacturing sectors.

Almost all commodities posted price decreases in the second quarter. Among these, computers and peripherals equipment such as terminals, printers and storage devices (-3.5%) and other industry specific machinery (-1.3%) contributed the most to the quarterly decline of the total MEPI.

The Canadian dollar appreciated by 1.9% against the US dollar in the second quarter compared with the previous quarter and also gained 6.2% year over year. Variations in exchange rates can have a strong influence on the MEPI given the high weight that imported machinery and equipment has in the index.

Note: This release presents data that are not seasonally adjusted and the indexes published are subject to a four-quarter revision period after dissemination of a given quarter's data.

Available on CANSIM: tables 327-0041 and 327-0042.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 2312.

The second quarter 2011 issue of Capital Expenditure Price Statistics (62-007-X, free) will be available in October.

The machinery and equipment price indexes for the third quarter will be released on November 23.

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact the Client Services (toll-free 1-888-951-4550; 613-951-4550; fax: 1-855-314-8765 or 613-951-3117; ppd-info-dpp@statcan.gc.ca), Producer Prices Division.