Brief Introduction
I. Main Content
Data on the price indices in this chapter show the changing
trend and the change rates in production, consumption and investment, including
mainly consumer price indices of residents, retail price indices, price indices
of agricultural means of production, purchasing price indices of farm products,
producers’ price indices of industrial products, purchasing price indices of
raw materials, fuels and power, price indices of investment in fixed assets,
and real estate price indices.
II. Source of Data
Statistics on price indices are organized by the Urban
Socio-economic Survey Organization, NBS. The urban socio-economic survey
organizations of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities and of
the selected cities and counties collect data from the grassroots units in
accordance with the scheme of price survey stipulated by the NBS, tabulate them
and report them to the higher agencies.
III. Consumer Price Indices of Residents and Retail Price
Indices
Data for calculation of the consumer price indices of
residents and the retail price indices in
(1) The selection of the areas and places for survey: Based
on such principles as regional economic features and reasonable geographic
distribution, representative sample areas for the national survey are selected
which include large, medium and small cities and counties. When the sample
areas are selected, large-scale shops and markets (including fairs and service
outlets) with great varieties of commodities are selected as the survey places.
(2) The selection of the representative commodities and their
specifications or varieties: The representative commodities are the commodities
consumed in large quantity and representative in price changes. The
representative specifications or varieties are determined according to the data
on the retail sales of commodities and the account data of the residents of
close to 50,000 urban households and 67,000 rural households, following the
related instructions for selection. In principle, only those specifications or
varieties of the commodities can be selected: (a) They are closely related to
the social production and people's livelihood; (b) They are sold in large
quantities (or large values); (c) The market supply is stable; (d) The changes
of their prices are representative in trend; (e) There is great difference
among the specifications or varieties selected.
At present, data are collected on about 600-700
specifications each month under 251 basic headings in 8 categories in the
consumer price surveys. For the retail price surveys, data are collected on
more than 500 specifications each month under 225 basic headings in 16
categories
(3) Data collection: Enumerators are sent to the survey
places to take the records of the prices. Nearly 10 thousand assistant
enumerators are invited to assist the survey work.
(4) The determination of the weights: The weights for
calculation of the retail price indices are determined mainly according to the
total retail sales of commodities. The weights for calculation of the consumer
price indices are determined according to the composition of the consumption
expenditures of close to 120,000 urban and rural households.
IV. Producers’ Prices of
Industrial Products
Producers’ prices of industrial products refer to the price
of industrial products when they leave factories. The survey program
include the key units survey and typical units survey. The key units
refer to all state-owned industrial enterprises and those non-state-owned
industrial enterprises with annual sale revenue above 5 million yuan. The typical units refer to the non-state-owned
industrial enterprises with annual sale revenue below 5 million yuan.
(1) Principle in selecting the representative enterprises:
(a) Enterprises to be covered in the survey are selected by
industrial sectors. In principle, every branch should have enterprises
selected; (b) All (or a majority of) large-sized enterprises should be
selected; (c) Enterprises with normal and stable production are to be selected;
(d) Different types of ownership should be considered in selecting enterprises.
(2) The principle to select the representative products:
(a) The products are selected by industrial sectors; (b) The
selected products should have great impact on the national economy and the
people's livelihood; (c) The production of the products selected are stable;
(d) The foreground of products is representative in trend; (e) The products are
typical and with local color.
The present List of Industrial Products for the survey
includes 2,700 products (including 5,700 specifications or varieties). The
industrial sales value of the industries represented by these products accounts
for more than 90 percent of total industrial sales value.
(3) Data collection: Reports by enterprises are adopted.
About 45,000 industrial enterprises report price data every month.
(4) The determination of the weights: The weights for
calculation of the producers' price indices of industrial products are
determined according to the total sales value of industrial products. Data from
the industrial census are used for the calculation. If industrial census data
are not available for the reference year, industrial statistical data and
statistical data from other agencies will be used to estimate the weights. The
weights are replaced every five years.
V. Price Indices for Investment in Fixed Assets
Data on prices of investment in fixed assets are collected by
the survey on key units and typical units. The prices of the survey of
investment in fixed assets are the actual purchasing prices or balancing prices
of entity of investment in fixed assets. The survey content includes the prices
of main construction materials that composing the architecture engineering
entity in the year, such as steel, timber, cement, local construction materials
(such as brick, tile, calcareousness, sand, stone, etc.), chemical materials
(such as oil paint, etc.), the price of labor force as input (wages), prices
for renting of building machinery and equipment, the purchasing price of
equipment, tools and instruments and the prices of others investments.
The following principle to select the sample of price survey
of investment in fixed assets should be followed.
(1) The principle to select the prices survey point of
construction and installation: (a) Sample units should be a
certain coverage; (b) The economic activity of investment is great
representative; (c) Different economic types of ownership should be considered;
(d) The key projects need to be selected; (e) Give attention to both various
branches and types of project.
(2) The principle to select the prices survey point of others
investments: The principle to select the prices survey point of others fees is general the same as that of construction and installation,
especially to select the projects with great investment value. Since it is not
easy to obtain the other fees, it should do the key survey on the construction
owner units and building units assisted with typical survey (gotten from the
administration department), in the actual operation.
(3) Price survey way: Enterprises reporting
system is used together with the enumerators visiting method.
(4) The determination of the weights: The weights for
calculation of the price indices of investment in fixed assets are determined
according to the average proportion of construction and installation, purchase
of equipment, tools and instruments and others investment in the 3 previous
years.
VI. Price Indices for Real Estate
The real estate in broad sense refers to the property in
terms of buildings and land. Therefore, the price survey on real estate covers
the following items:
1) Prices for selling houses and buildings. In terms of the
types of houses sold at the market, prices for selling houses include the
prices for commercial houses, for houses built or purchased by various units
and for privately owned houses.
2) Prices for renting houses and buildings. Included in this
category are prices for renting residential housing, office buildings,
commercial buildings and warehouses.
3) Prices for land transaction. Included in this category are
prices for the transaction of land used for residential housing, for industrial
purposes, for commercial or recreational purposes and for other uses.
Survey on real estate prices employed a combination of survey
of key units and survey of typical cases. Data are collected through reporting
forms supplemented by interviews.
The
survey on real estate prices at present is conducted in 35 large and medium
cities, with a sample of 8,000 units.