Machinery and Equipment Price Index, second quarter 2015
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Released: 2015-08-26
The Machinery and Equipment Price Index (MEPI) decreased 0.9% in the second quarter compared with the previous quarter. This was the first quarterly decline since the second quarter of 2014. The import component was down 1.1% in the second quarter, while the domestic component fell 0.1%.
The Canadian dollar appreciated 1.0% against the US dollar in the second quarter compared with the first quarter. Variations in exchange rates can have a significant influence on the MEPI given the high weight of imported machinery and equipment in the index.
All industries posted decreases in the price of machinery and equipment purchased in the second quarter. The largest contributor to the quarterly decline was finance, insurance and real estate (-1.1%). Other services excluding public administration (-1.1%), public administration (-1.0%) and transportation and warehousing (-1.0%) also contributed to the decline in prices.
Among commodities, computers and computer peripheral equipment (-3.0%) contributed the most to the quarterly decrease of the total MEPI. Passenger cars (-1.2%), aircraft and aircraft engines (-1.0%), commercial and service industry machinery (-0.9%) and other industry-specific machinery (-0.8%) also contributed to the quarterly decline.
Compared with the second quarter of 2014, the total MEPI increased 11.2%, reflecting large price increases in the first quarter of 2015. The import component increased 13.3% and the domestic component was up 5.1%. The movement in the import component was partly influenced by the year-over-year depreciation of the Canadian dollar (-11.3%) against the US dollar.
Note to readers
With the release of third quarter 2014 data, Statistics Canada converted the Machinery and Equipment Price Index (MEPI) series to 2010=100, with 2010 as the base year. The relative importance of the basket items has been updated using the 2010 annual gross additions to capital for machinery and equipment purchases by industries in Canada.
Also, the MEPI (2010=100) adopted the commodity and industry classifications incorporated in the current input-output tables of the Canadian System of National Accounts (CSNA) for final demand expenditures by machinery and equipment categories. With the 2012 historical revision of the CSNA, the classifications incorporated in the input-output tables published by Statistics Canada were updated. For more information on the changes applied to the input-output tables, see Modernization of the input-output tables.
For vectors that have a concordance, MEPI historical data (prior to the first quarter of 2010) based on the new basket (2010=100) are available in CANSIM.
The concordance information between the old CANSIM vectors and the new CANSIM vectors is available in the Concordance table between the old and new CANSIM vectors.
The MEPI provides quarterly estimates of price changes for machinery and equipment purchased by industries in Canada.
Data are available at the Canada level only.
The contribution of a given sub-aggregate to the composite price change depends on both the price change exhibited by the sub-aggregate and on its importance in the basket, as measured by the weight.
With each release, data for the previous two quarters may have been revised. The index is not seasonally adjusted.
With the release of second quarter 2015 data, all data for 2014 have been revised.
Next release
The Machinery and Equipment Price Index for the third quarter will be released on November 25.
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; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@canada.ca).
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