According to Statistics Canada, the Machinery and Equipment Price Index (MEPI) increased 2.1 percent in the fourth quarter, following a 0.9 percent gain in the third quarter. The import component was up 2.6 percent, while the domestic component increased 0.8 percent.
All industries posted increases in the prices of machinery and equipment purchased in the fourth quarter. Finance, insurance and real estate (+2.9 percent) was the largest contributor to the quarterly gain in the MEPI. Transportation and warehousing (+2.4 percent), all manufacturing (+1.9 percent), mines quarries and oil wells (+1.8 percent) and public administration (+2.1 percent) also contributed to the quarterly price increase.
Prices rose for all commodities in the fourth quarter. Computers and computer peripheral equipment (+2.0 percent), logging, mining and construction machinery and equipment (+1.5 percent) and passenger cars (+3.8 percent) all contributed to the quarterly gain.
The total MEPI decreased 0.2 percent in the fourth quarter compared with the same quarter of 2015.
The import component fell 0.2 percent and the domestic component was down 0.1 percent. The movement in the import component was partly influenced by the year-over-year appreciation of the Canadian dollar (+0.1 percent) against the US dollar.