Brief Introduction

Brief Introduction

I. Main Contents

Data on price indices in this chapter show the trends and rates of changes in the prices of production, distribution and consumption, including mainly consumer price indices, producer price indices for farm products, producer price indices for industrial products, purchasing price indices for industrial producers and price indices for imports and exports.

II. Sources of Data

Compilation of statistics on price indices is organized by the Department of Urban Social and Economic Surveys and the Department of Rural Social and Economic Surveys of NBS. The social and economic survey organizations of 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 agencies at higher levels. Statistics on price for imports and exports are provided by the General Administration of Customs.

III. Consumer Price Indices and Retail Price Indices

Data for compilation of the consumer price indices in China are collected through sample surveys. Areas distributed in different economic regions are selected as the sample areas and representative goods or services are selected as the sample commodities. Regular surveys are conducted to collect data on their market prices. Price statistics are estimated on the basis of the results from the samples. At present, nearly 500 cities and counties have been selected for this purpose. Following are major steps in the process of calculation of the price indices:

(1) The selection of areas and outlets: 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, shopping malls (stores), supermarkets, farmers’ markets, service outlets and Internet e-commerce with large operation scale and various commodity types are selected as outlets for the survey.

(2) The selection of representative commodities and their specifications or varieties: The representative specifications are to choose those goods or services that have large consumption and representative price changes. The representative specifications or varieties are determined based on the consumption expenditure account data of urban and rural residents. 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, and the correlation of price changes is low.

At present, data are collected under 268 basic headings in 8 categories in the consumer price surveys.

(3) Method of data collection: Through hand-held data capturing device, direct investigation is conducted by the method of fixed data collector, fixed outlet and fixed timing, the selected respondents should assist in filling in the price data. On the premise of ensuring accurate prices and with the approval by the NBS, local governments can collect prices of specific goods and services from the Internet through announcements and other documents issued by relevant government departments, as well as publicly published fee-collecting information of some enterprises and units, and electronic data of the units under investigation.

(4) Determination of the weights: The weights of the consumer price indices are determined according to the composition of the consumption expenditures of urban and rural households.

IV. Producer Price Indices for Industrial Products

Producer price for industrial products refer to the ex-factory price of manufactured goods when they are first sold. The survey covers both key industrial enterprises with annual revenue from the primary activities at and above 20 million yuan, and typical industrial enterprises with annual revenue from the primary activities below 20 million yuan.

(1) Principles for selecting the representative enterprises: (a) Enterprises to be covered in the survey are selected by industrial sectors; (b) All (or a majority of) large-scaled enterprises should be selected; (c) Enterprises selected should be those with normal and stable production.

(2) Principle for the selection of representative products:

(a) Products are selected by industrial sectors; (b) The selected products should have great impact on the national economy and people’s living conditions; (c) The production of the products selected are relatively more stable; (d) The prospects of the products selected are promising; (e) The products selected are representative to the localities.

The Survey Catalog of Producer Price for Industrial Products includes over 20,000 products under more than 1300 basic headings.

(3) Method of data collection: There are more than 40,000 industrial enterprises reporting their data through online direct reporting.

(4) Determination of the weights: In statistics of producer price indices for industrial products, the weights of small groups and above of industrial classification come from the output value of industrial sales by sector in industrial statistics; the weights of basic headings come from independent weights surveys of industrial products.

V. Producer Prices Indices for Agricultural Products

Producer prices indices for agricultural products refer to the actual price per unit through directly selling their products by producers of farm products. The survey program of producer prices indices for agricultural products is a combined use of sampling survey and survey of typical units’. It covers main farm products produced and sold by the units surveyed. Representative farm products covered about 90% of small groups of all major groups in 4 branches of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery, with a total of 180 representative products. The products are generally with large production and sales, having great impact on the national economy and people’s living conditions, with strong stability, with promising to new products and with local characters. Representative products are in the sample for 5 years. The survey is conducted quarterly. The weight of producer prices indices for agricultural products mainly comes from the information on the sales amount of agricultural products by rural households and farms, and can also be calculated based on information such as agricultural product output value and yield.

VI. Price Indices for Imports and Exports

Price indices for imports and exports reflect trend and degree of price changes in import and export of commodity over a given period of time. They are compiled with the unit value method on the basis of statistics of imports and exports of goods of the China Customs. With Renminbi as the unit of measurements, import price index is computed at CIF prices and export price index is computed at FOB prices.