Explanatory Notes on Main Statistical Indicators
Urban Consumer Price
Indices
reflect the trend and
degree of changes in prices of consumer goods and services purchased by urban
households during a given period. It can be used to observe and analyze the impact
of price changes in consumer goods and services on wages (in monetary terms) of
urban staff and workers, and provide basis for policy-making concerning the
living cost and wages of staff and workers.
Rural Consumer Price
Indices
reflect the trend and
degree of changes in prices of consumer goods and services purchased by rural
households during a given period. It can be used to observe the impact of
change in retail prices of consumer goods and service prices in rural areas on
living expenditure of rural households, and to show the changes in the living
standard of peasants. It provides basis for analysis and research on condition
of life in rural areas.
Retail Price Indices reflect the trend and degree of change in retail
prices of commodities during a given period. The change in retail prices of
commodities directly affect the living expenditure of urban and rural
residents, government revenue, purchasing power of residents and the
equilibrium of market supply and demand, and the ratio of consumption to
accumulation. Therefore, the retail price indices are useful to analyze the
changes of the above economic activities.
Price Indices of Means
of Agricultural Production reflect
the trend and degree of changes in prices of means of agricultural production
during a given period. Price indices of means of agricultural production are
composed of 10 categories including small farm tools, feeds, domestic animals
for meat, draught domestic animals, semi-mechanized farm machinery, mechanized
farm machinery, chemical fertilizers, pesticides and spraying machinery, fuels
for farm machinery and other means of agricultural production. Compilation of
these indices helps to understand the changes in prices of input into
agricultural production and facilitate the compilation of national account
statistics. Before 1994, price indices of means of agricultural production was
a sub-category in the in the retail price indices of commodities, and it has
been compiled separately since 1994.
Indices of Producers’
Prices for Farm Products reflect the trend and degree of changes in
producers’ prices received by farmers when they sell farm products during a
given period. These indices depict the change in the level and structure of
producers’ prices of farm products of the country and meet the needs of
agriculture statistics and national account statistics. The producers’ price
index of a given product is calculated through geometrical mean of individual
indices of all surveyed units who sell such product, and the indices of a product
category is obtained through weighted mean of price indices of all products in
the category. Method for calculating accumulative quarterly indices is the same
as for calculating the distinctive quarterly indices.
Ex-factory Price
Indices of Industrial Products reflect the trend and degree of changes in general ex-factory
prices of all industrial products during a given period, including sales of
industrial products by an industrial enterprise to all units outside the
enterprise, as well as sales of consumer goods to residents. It can be used to
analyze the impact of ex-factory prices on gross output value and value-added
of the industrial sector.
Indices of Purchasing
Prices of Raw Materials, Fuels and Power reflect changes in the level and degree of
prices paid by industrial enterprises when they purchase production input such
as raw materials, fuels and power from the market or from other energy or raw
materials producing enterprises. These indices provide important basis for
measuring the material consumption of industrial enterprises after removing
influence of price changes.
At present, close to 1,800
products in 9 categories, including fuels and power, ferrous metals,
non-ferrous metals, chemicals, building materials, are covered in
Price Indices of
Investment in Fixed Assets reflect the trend and degree of changes in prices of
investment goods and projects in fixed assets during a given period. The investment
in fixed assets consists of three components, namely the investment in
construction and installation, the investment in purchases of equipment and
instrument, and the investment in other items. Price indices of investment in
fixed assets are calculated as the weighted arithmetic mean of the price
indices of the three components of investment in fixed assets.
Removing the factor of
price change in the aggregates of investment at current prices, this indicator
shows the changes in the prices of commodities and fees involved in the
investment of fixed assets, and can be used to observe the actual size, growth,
structure, and efficiency of investment in fixed assets and provides reliable
and scientific data for government planning, management, decision-making, and
further improving the current national accounting system.
Price Indices for Real
Estate reflect the
trend and degree of changes in prices of real estate during a given period,
including price indices for selling houses and buildings, price indices for
leasing houses and buildings and price indices for land transaction. The
methods for the compilation of the three sets of indices are similar in that
they all use bottom-up approach under which data are reported from lower level
to higher level.