According to Statistics Canada, the Machinery and Equipment Price Index (MEPI) decreased 0.4 percent in the first quarter, following a 2.2 percent increase in the fourth quarter. The import component was down 0.4 percent, while the domestic component decreased 0.1 percent.
All industries posted decreases in the prices of machinery and equipment purchased in the first quarter. Other services excluding public administration (-0.7 percent) was the largest contributor to the quarterly decrease in the MEPI. Transportation and warehousing (-0.6 percent), finance, insurance and real estate (-0.3 percent), mines quarries and oil wells (-0.4 percent) and public administration (-0.5 percent) also contributed to the decline in prices.
Most commodities posted decreases in the first quarter. Computers and computer peripheral equipment (-0.9 percent), logging, mining and construction machinery and equipment (-0.6 percent) and other communications equipment (-0.9 percent) all contributed to the quarterly price decrease.
In a year-on-year analysis, the total MEPI decreased 2.9 percent in the first quarter compared with the same quarter of 2016.
The import component fell 3.4 percent and the domestic component was down 0.9 percent. The movement in the import component was partly influenced by the year-over-year appreciation of the Canadian dollar (+3.9 percent) against the US dollar.