Statistics Canada’s Machinery and Equipment Price Index (MEPI), released on 1 October, reports July 2026 price movements for machinery and equipment acquired by industries in Canada. The combined domestic and imported index rose from 127.2 in June to 129.0 in July. The month-to-month increase calculated from the published levels, rounded to one decimal, is about 1.4%. The June value was revised in this release. A year earlier, in July 2025, the index stood at 122.2; the increase over that year, calculated from the published levels, is about 5.6%. These are national indexes, not separate price movements for a province, city or individual business. MEPI is not a consumer price index: it tracks prices for machinery and equipment that industries acquire as capital investment inputs.

The domestic machinery and equipment index reached 132.9 in July; its June level of 132.2 is the revised value. The imported index rose from 125.9 to 128.3. Calculated from those published levels, the monthly changes are approximately 0.5% for domestic products and 1.9% for imports. Over the year, the domestic index rose about 4.3% from 127.4 in July 2025, while the imported index increased about 6.3% from 120.7. A larger movement in imports does not mean the composite rose by that same percentage: each component can carry a different weight in the basket. These percentage changes are calculations from index levels published to one decimal place; the release itself does not provide a separate monthly percentage-change table.

A level of 129.0 does not mean that prices rose 29% in July. MEPI uses 2016 as its reference period and sets that year to 100. The July level therefore places measured prices about 29% above the 2016 reference level; it is not the monthly or annual increase. The monthly movement is derived from the comparison between 127.2 in June and 129.0 in July. Index points and percentage changes are different units. MEPI is one of the price indicators used by the Canadian System of National Accounts to calculate constant-price components of capitalized machinery and equipment investment. It does not measure household purchases, the cost of living, or every category of investment spending. Readers should keep the index’s reference base separate from its period-to-period change.

The national composite masks different movements among product groups. The total index for computers and computer peripherals rose from 110.2 in June to 114.7 in July, an increase of about 4.1% calculated from the published levels. The electric motors and generators index advanced from 153.0 to 172.9. By contrast, the total index for power, distribution and other transformers fell from 183.2 to 180.7. Domestic and imported components also diverged within groups: the imported electric motors index moved from 153.5 to 174.4 while the domestic index went from 143.0 to 144.2; for transformers, the imported index declined from 216.6 to 203.0 and the domestic component remained at 170.5. Sub-groups do not contribute equally to the total index.

Statistics Canada says a sub-aggregate’s contribution to the composite price movement depends both on its own price change and on its importance in the basket, measured by its weight. A sharp movement in one product group therefore does not mean the overall machinery and equipment index moved at the same rate. The agency has reported MEPI monthly since October 2024; table 18-10-0283-01 is organized by product and 18-10-0284-01 by industry of purchase. July values were checked in the official 18-10-0283-01 table and CSV download; geography is Canada only. The agency says the previous six months may be revised with each release and that the index is not seasonally adjusted. Price inputs use producer prices: factory-gate prices exclude taxes, tariffs and transportation costs. Missing observations may be estimated from movements among remaining units in the same stratum. July is an official weighted index, but it remains revisable and unadjusted for seasonal patterns.