According to Statistics Canada, the Machinery and Equipment Price Index (MEPI) decreased 0.2 percent in the first quarter, following a 1.6 percent increase in the fourth quarter of 2017. The import component was down 0.3 percent while the domestic component increased 0.1 percent.
Transportation and warehousing (-0.5 percent), mines, quarries and oil wells (-0.3 percent) and other services excluding public administration (-0.3 percent) contributed to the quarterly price decrease.
Logging, mining and construction machinery and equipment (-0.6 percent), computers and computer peripheral equipment (-0.7 percent), passenger cars (-1.0 percent) and buses (-1.6 percent) also contributed to the quarterly price decrease.
The total MEPI decreased 2.8 percent in the first quarter compared with the same quarter in 2017. The import component was down 3.5 percent, while the domestic component decreased 0.4 percent. The movement in the import component was influenced by the year-over-year appreciation of the Canadian dollar (+4.6 percent) against the US dollar.