Brief Introduction
I. Main Contents
Data on price
indices in this chapter show the changing trends and the change rates in the
prices of production, trade, consumption and investment, including mainly
consumer price indices, retail price indices, price indices for means of
agricultural production, producer price indices for farm products, ex-factory
price indices for industrial products (or producer price indices for manufactured
goods), purchasing price indices for raw materials, fuels and power, price indices
for investment in fixed assets, and price indices for real estate.
II.
Sources of Data
Compilation of
statistics on price indices is organized by the Department of Urban Social and
Economic Survey, NBS. The urban socio-economic survey organizations of the
provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central
Government and of the selected cities and counties collect data from the
grassroots units in accordance with the scheme of price survey system
stipulated by the NBS, tabulate them and report them to the higher agencies.
III. Consumer Price
Indices and Retail Price Indices
Data for compilation
of the consumer price indices and the retail price indices in
(1) The selection of areas and survey
points: 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 have been selected, large-scale shops and markets (including
fairs and service outlets) with wide variety of commodities are selected as
survey points.
(2) The selection of
representative commodities and their specifications or varieties: The
representative commodities selected are those 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
consumption expenditure account data of the residents of 59,000 urban
households and 68,000 rural households; and selection follows the related
instructions. The principles for selection are: (a) The commodities are closely
related to social production and people’s living conditions; (b) They are
consumes (or 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 heterogeneity among the specifications or varieties selected.
At present, data are
collected on 600 and more specifications each month under 262 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 229 basic
headings in 16 categories.
(3) Method of data
collection: Enumerators are sent to the survey points to take the records of
the prices. Nearly 10 thousand assistant enumerators are recruited to assist
the survey work.
(4) 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 some 130,000 urban and
rural households.
IV. Producer Price Indices
for Manufactured Goods
Producer prices for manufactured
goods refer to the ex-factory price of manufactured goods when they are first
sold. The survey program is a combined use of the key units’ survey and typical
units’ survey methods. Key units refer to those non-State-owned industrial
enterprises with annual revenue above 5 million yuan.
Typical units refer to the industrial enterprises with annual sale revenue
below 5 million yuan.
(1) Principles for
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 selected should be those with normal and
stable production; (d) Different types of ownership should be considered in
selecting enterprises.
(2) Principle for
the selection of representative goods:
(a) The goods are
selected by industrial sectors; (b) The selected goods should have great impact
on the national economy and people’s living conditions; (c) The production of
the goods selected are relatively more stable; (d) The prospects of the goods
selected are promising; (e) The goods selected are typical to the place in
question.
The current List of Manufactured Goods for the
survey includes over 4,000 goods (including 7,500 specifications or varieties).
The industrial sales value of the industries represented by these goods
accounts for more than 70 percent of total industrial sales value of all the
country.
(3) Method of data
collection: The method of reporting forms by enterprises is adopted. There are
about 60,000 industrial enterprises which should report the price data every
month.
(4) Determination of
the weights: The weights for calculation of the producer price indices for manufactured
goods are determined according to the total sales value of manufactured goods.
Data from the industrial census are used for the calculation. If 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 a program involving the combined
use of surveys on key units and surveys on typical units. The prices collected
in the surveys of investment in fixed assets are the actual purchasing prices
or settlement prices of entities of investment in fixed assets. The survey
content includes the prices of main construction materials that constitute the
architectural engineering entity in the year, such as steel, timber, cement,
local construction materials (such as brick, tile, calcareous ashes, 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
principles should be followed in selecting the sample for the price survey of
investment in fixed assets:
(1) Principles for
selecting the survey points of construction and installation: (a) Sample units
should have a good coverage; (b) The economic activity of investment should
have strong representativeness; (c) Different economic types of ownership
should be considered; (d) key projects should be selected; (e) Attention should
be given to various sectors of the national economy and types of projects.
(2) Principles for
selecting price survey points of other fees: The principles for selecting
survey points of others fees is in general the same as that of construction and
installation, with special attention being paid to selecting projects with huge
investment value. Since it is not easy to obtain the other fees, during the
actual data gathering operations, survey on key construction owner units and
building units is to conducted concurrently with survey on typical units (with
information from administration units)
(3) Method of price
survey: A combination of enterprises reporting system and enumerator visits
method.
(4) Determination of
the weights: The weights for calculation of the price indices for investment in
fixed assets are determined according to the average proportion of construction
and installation, purchase of equipment, tools and instruments and other
investments in the 3 preceding years.
VI.
Price Indices for Real Estate
In the broad sense
real estate refers to properties in terms of both buildings and land.
Therefore, the price survey on real estate covers the following items:
1)
2) Renting price of
houses. Included in this category are prices for renting residential housing,
office buildings, buildings for business or recreational purposes, buildings
for industrial or storage purposes, and housing for other purposes.
3) Transaction prices
of land. Included in this category are prices for the transaction of land used
for residential housing, for industrial and storage purposes, for business or
recreational purposes and for other uses.
4) Property
management price. Included in this category are prices for residential housing,
office buildings, buildings for business or recreational purposes, and
buildings for industrial or storage purposes.
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 70 large and medium-sized cities, with a sample of over
10,000 units.