The Canadian Machinery and Equipment Price Index stood at 83.8 (1997=100) in the fourth quarter, down 3.3% from the third quarter. The import component index fell 5.1%, while the domestic index edged down 0.5%. Compared with the fourth quarter of 2006, the total MEPI was down 8.1%, as the import index decreased 12.3% while the domestic index edged down 0.8%.

All industries recorded decreases in prices of machinery and equipment purchased in the fourth quarter. Manufacturing industries (-3.9%) contributed the most to the total MEPI quarterly decrease.
Among the sector’s subcomponents, the largest contributors to the quarterly decrease were transportation equipment manufacturing (-4.3%), primary metal and fabricated metal product manufacturing (-3.9%) and paper manufacturing (-2.9%). The second largest contributor to the total quarterly decrease was other services (excluding public administration), which fell 3.4%, with its sub-component, information and cultural industries, falling 3.6%.

Among commodities, price decreases for computers and peripherals (-6.7%) and other industry specific machinery (-4.9%) were the largest contributors to the quarterly decrease. The U.S. dollar depreciated 6.0% against its Canadian counterpart in the fourth quarter of 2007.