Machinery and Equipment Price Index, second quarter 2013
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Released: 2013-08-22
The Machinery and Equipment Price Index (MEPI) rose 0.9% in the second quarter compared with the previous quarter. The import component was up 1.4% over this period, while the domestic component was unchanged.
The Canadian dollar depreciated 1.4% against the US dollar in the second quarter compared with the previous quarter. Variations in exchange rates can have a strong influence on the MEPI given the high weight that imported machinery and equipment has on the index.
All industries posted increases in prices of machinery and equipment purchased in the second quarter. The largest contributor to the total MEPI quarterly increase was manufacturing (+1.1%), with both the transportation equipment manufacturing sub-component and the primary metal and fabricated metal product manufacturing sub-component up 1.2%. The second largest contributor to the quarterly increase was finance, insurance and real estate (+0.6%).
On a commodity basis, most commodities posted price increases in the second quarter. Among these, other industry specific machinery and other agricultural machinery contributed the most to the quarterly increase of the total MEPI (both up 1.5%).
Compared with the second quarter of 2012, the total MEPI increased 1.3%, with the import component up 2.4% and the domestic component down 0.5%. The movement in the import component was partly influenced by the year-over-year change in the Canadian dollar (-1.3%) against the US dollar.
Note to readers
The Machinery and Equipment Price Index provides quarterly estimates of price changes for machinery and equipment purchased by industries in Canada.
With each release, data for the previous four quarters may have been revised. The indexes are not seasonally adjusted.
The second quarter 2013 issue of Capital Expenditure Price Statistics (Catalogue number62-007-X) will be available in October.
The Machinery and Equipment Price Index for the third quarter will be released on November 21.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@canada.ca).
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