STATISTICS AUSTRIA

Directorate "Macro-economic Statistics" - Prices and Purchasing Power Parities.

Guglgasse 13, 1110 Wien, Austria

Name of indicator: Import price index.

The main purpose is to measure price changes of detailed product groups in foreign trade. In the European sample scheme only imports from outside the euro area are considered. All price-determining characteristics of products are taken into account, including rebates, service conditions, guarantee conditions and transport provided.

NACE Rev. 2.

8 selected CPA 4-digits for the participation in the European sample scheme:

• 06.10 Crude petroleum;
• 21.10 Basic pharmaceutical products;
• 21.20 Pharmaceutical preparations;
• 24.41 Precious metals;
• 26.20 Computers and peripheral equipment;
• 26.30 Communication equipment;
• 29.10 Motor vehicles;
• 29.32 Other parts and accessories for motor vehicles.

The import price index measures development in the cif-prices of imported goods. The following price determining variables are taken into account:

1. Product Description (name of the product, brand name, type, number of the item, technical and other specifications): Statistics Austria is interested in typical products (2 – 4) of the importers’ CN 8-digits. They should be regularly imported and stay the same for a longer period (between 1 and 2 years) of time. In addition selected products are required to have long-term significance for transactions.
2. Country Description: In the European sample scheme only the country of origin is relevant for the imported good. It must be a country outside the euro area.
3. Method of transport: All means of transport of the imported goods are requested.
4. Unit of Quantity: The price of the imported good should belong to the unit of quantity.
5. Terms Of Delivery/Terms Of Payment
6. Price: cif-prices are requested on a monthly basis. They should correspond to the required date (15 of the respective month) or be near to the required date, excluding all duties and taxes on the goods and services respectively trade and transport margins within the country. If no comparable contract was concluded in the middle of the month, the price quotation should refer to a comparable purchase made at the date closest to the reference date. It is important to have comparable products in order to calculate pure price changes. The quoted good should be based on the same quality, quantity and other price-determining factors (for example terms of delivery/terms of payment, etc.).
7. Comments on Changes: If there is a change in the product description of a specific good, respondents should give detailed information for calculating only pure price changes.
8. Contact Person (telephone number, e-mail)

Reporting unit: The reporting unit is in most cases the enterprise itself, but it may also be an establishment of a multinational.

Observation unit: Establishment (production plant as a local kind of activity unit).
In case of multi activity enterprises also secondary activities are included.

Population of all importing enterprises registered in foreign trade statistics for the 8 specific 4-digit CPA (see 3.3.).

The survey does not cover imports from the euro area.

The first survey was carried out 2005.
The indicator was first compiled 2006 and first transmitted to Eurostat in 2007.

The current base year is 2015. The current reference year is 2015 (average 2015=100)

Indices.

A particular day during the reference month (15th of each month).

The specific European law referring to the import prices index is the Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European business statistics, repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics (EBS-Regulation) and Commission Implementing Regulation 2020/1197 laying down technical specifications and arrangements pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152

There is also a national regulation called BGBl. II No. 464/2006: „Verordnung: Erstellung von Indizes der Preisentwicklung von Importen“ as amended by BGBl. II Nr. 276/2009, BGBl.II Nr. 27/2016, BGBl.II Nr. 286/2018, BGbl.II Nr.  75/2023

Import price indices are only transmitted to Eurostat but not to any other international organisation.

The legal basis is:

• The general obligation to publish statistics and the strict provision on statistical confidentiality is regulated by the “Federal Statistics Act 2000” ("Bundesstatistikgesetz 2000") in the consolidated version of "Bundesstatistikgesetz 2000 - konsolidierte Fassung 2009” BGBl. I No. 163/1999 as amended by BGBl. I No. 136/2001, BGBl. I No. 71/2003, BGBl. I No. 92/2007, BGBl. I No. 125/2009.
• The protection of personal data is covered by the “Data Protection Act 2000” ("Datenschutzgesetz 2000 (DSG 2000)", Austrian Federal Law Gazette I No. 165/1999 as amended by BGBl. I No. 136/2001, BGBl. I No. 13/2005, BGBl. I No. 2/2008, BGBl. I No. 133/2009, BGBl. I No. 135/2009).

A methodological description of the import price index can be obtained on the Internet website of Statistics Austria. The paper is called “Standard-Dokumentation Metainformationen (Definitionen, Erläuterungen, Methoden, Qualität) zum Importpreisindex“ (standard documentation of meta-information (definitions, explanations, methods, quality) about the import price index). 
All papers are available for free on the respective websites in German.

Aggregated indices consisting of data of less than 3 responding units are regarded as confidential.

Import price indices are published around m+45.

Not available.

Simultaneous release to all interested parties

No prior access for any interested party.

Identification of internal government access to data before release

No prior access for any government or public administration body.
The „Federal Statistics Act 2000“ ("Bundesstatistikgesetz 2000 - konsolidierte Fassung 2009") explicitly states in §30 (3) the obligation of STATISTICS AUSTRIA to inform without delay the Federal Minister responsible for the subject matter concerned about the results of statistical surveys and to publish them simultaneously.

Transmission to Eurostat and further use of the statistics

According to the release calendar - 45 days after the end of the reference period. Data are transmitted to Eurostat via eDamis.

Transmission to Eurostat is carried out monthly. There is no national dissemination.

No ministerial commentary is attached to the release of data.

Not available.

Not available.

Not available.

Data for the specific CPA 4-digits (see 3.3.) are only sent to Eurostat.

Dissemination of documentation on methodology and sources used in preparing statistics

A methodological description of the import price index can be obtained on the Internet website of Statistics Austria. The paper is called “Standard-Dokumentation Metainformationen (Definitionen, Erläuterungen, Methoden, Qualität) zum Importpreisindex“ (standard documentation of meta-information (definitions, explanations, methods, quality) about the import price index).

Description of standard tables produced

None.

A quality report of the import price index is available on the homepage of Statistics Austria (Importpreisindex ab 2010). Chapter 3 ("Qualität") refers to quality.

Summary description of quality criteria calculated for national purposes

There exists a provisional version of the national Quality report of short term statistics about the import price index on the homepage of Statistics Austria (Standarddokumentationen).
Chapter 6 “Quality” of this national quality report contains the following points:

• Relevance;
• Accuracy;
• Clarity of the information;
• Comparability;
• Coherence with other statistics.

There are quality checks on overall quality of the statistical outputs. Plausibility checks with different sources are done (unit value indices - data base comes from foreign trade statistics)

Total quality management principles are laid down in the Austrian Federal Statistics Act. Quality checks are conducted regularly as well as quality reports are provided to the public. Quality feedback meetings take place with users, external experts and the Quality Assurance Committee of the Statistics Council.

Users are Eurostat and internal users. The import price index is an important instrument for measuring inflation imported from foreign markets and thus represents a key indicator for estimating the influences of prices from abroad on domestic inflation trends. In addition to general economic and business cycle analysis, the import price index is used by many market participants as a guide when monitoring the market. In addition, an import price index is used to deflate the external balance of goods and services in National Accounts.

Eurostat and internal users use them for economic analysis and deflation. Enterprises use them for indexation of contracts and as economic indicators. Researchers and students need them for economic analysis.

In compliance with the Amendment Regulation No 458/2015 to the Short-term Statistics Regulation No 1165/98, Austria is producing 8 CPA 4-digits and fullfils all STS requirements according to the European sample scheme.

The import price index satisfies the principle of accuracy, as it reflects a true picture of the development of import prices within a certain economic activity.

The following issues are important for the accuracy of the import price indices:

• Representativeness of the sample (see 13.2.).
• Precise compilation of the index, this is ensured due to compiling geometric averaged indices for the elementary aggregate (CN 8-digit) and weighted averaged indices for all higher level aggregates.
• Unit and item non response (see 13.3.).
• Quality adjustment if products are changing; due to  the identification and elimination of quality changes it is ensured that exclusively the pure price development is showed.

Preliminary results are released after 45 days (t+45), final results are released after 75 days (t+75).

CN product groups are cut-off sampled in the import price indices, meaning that all important product groups (CN 8-digits) and most important reporting units are picked. Therefore an indication of a sampling error is not possible. The used method of the sampling procedure (see 18.1.) enables a high level of representativeness, both for the selection of products and the selection of reporting units. Due to the fact that the selection of product groups  and reporting units is carried out on detailed level the identification of homogenous products is possible that guarantees a representative figure of price changes.

The price collection for the monthly import price index in a small country like Austria is impacted by the fact that there might not be frequent import flows for all detailed product groups in all months hence missing prices are a common phenomenon when compiling the indices. The selection process also took into account these circumstances and put accent on more regularly available product groups.

The basket of goods consists of 28 representative product groups which are surveyed from 105 reporting units.

Coverage errors: not relevant; only enterprises with considerable high values of import concerning selected product groups are chosen for the survey.

Data collection errors: Data errors are identified within the data validation and will be eliminated afterwards. Every reporting month about 0,6 % of approximately 400 individual prices are determined for the preliminary results (t+45).

Unit and item non-response(missing data): Non-response predominantly occurs as unit non-response. Response rates are over 97% at t+45 and nearly 100% at t+75. Reminder calls and e-mails are used to maintain high response rate.

Data processing errors: Plausibility checks and error listings are used to avoid processing errors.

Model errors: not known.

Timeliness:

According to the release calendar the European Sample Scheme indices are published 45 days after the end of the reference month (provisional data) and 75 days after the end of the reference month (final data).

Timetable of data collection:

1. Reporting units get questionnaires between the 12th and 14th each month.
2. The deadline for replies is the 10th of the following month.
3. In particular cases (for example illness of the respondent) it is possible to extend slightly the deadline for replies.

Response rates are over 97% by the time of the first transmission (provisional data)  and nearly 100% by the time of the second transmission (final data) to Eurostat. There is no time lag between the actual delivery and the target date when it should have been delivered.

Austria applies the same statistical concepts in its entire national territory.

Time series for CPA 4-digits are comparable over time.

There is not yet a dissemination of information that support statistical cross-checks and provide assurance of reasonableness. It is intended to check the results with other index series (wholesale price index).

No internal inconcistencies of statistical output within the data set.

Reference year 2022:

For STS requirements: Cost for collection and production of Import price indices accounted for 860 person hours and burden on respondents amounted to 380 person hours.

Preliminary data are transmitted to Eurostat 45 days after the end of the reference period and become final after 75 days.

The same revision policy is applied to national data releases and to transmissions to Eurostat. 

Revisions are made on a regular basis:

• Provisional data are published 45 days after the reference period (the data are marked as "provsional data")
• Final data at t+75

This revision policy is described in footnotes to the relevant tables. 

Methodical changes are announced at the time of change and published in the monthly bulletin "Statistische Nachrichten". There is at least one quarter advance notice of major changes in methodology by including footnotes in the respective tables.

No revisions were necessary in 2022. Austria participates in the European Sample Scheme for import prices. Therefore MR and MAR cannot be provided.

Type of source:  Statistical sample survey.

Frame on which the source is based: The product sampling is drawn on foreign trade data from Intrastat and Extrastat. Intrastat and Extrastat indicate import values for detailed groups of commodities, namely at the 8-digit level of the Combined Nomenclature (CN). In a second step a representative enterprise sample is determined on the basis of the Business Register (UR-“Unternehmensregister").

Sample or census:  In the case of import price indices the sample (products, reporting units) is drawn from the foreign trade statistics (Intrastat, Extrastat) as a concentrated sample.
First, the sample of product groups is drawn.
Second, the sample of enterprises is drawn.

Criteria for stratification: CN8 headings

Threshold values and percentages: The selection of products and enterprises was done for the 8 CPA 4-digits of the European sample scheme by the following multi-step procedure (cut-off sampling):

• Selection of products with a relatively high import value (source: foreign trade statistic – ISIS, Statistical data bank).
• Selection of enterprises importing these selected products (source: foreign trade statistics – Host, mainframe system in ST.AT)

The product sampling based on the foreign trade data of INTRASTAT and EXTRASTAT is carried out on import values for detailed groups of commodities, namely at the 8-digit level of the Combined Nomenclature (CN). All CN 8-digits within the 8 CPA 4-digits have been used as a frame for selecting representative commodities. From each 4-digit CPA the largest CN 8-digits are selected until the chosen coverage of 70 % is reached. That means the CN 8-digits have been sorted in descending order of import value per CPA 4-digit, summed up and cut-off at an import value equal to 70 % of the CPA 4-digit total.
The foreign trade statistics are also the framework for establishing the sample of enterprises. A filter process took place in the following way: enterprises have been sorted in descending order of import value per selected CN 8-digit, summed up and cut-off at an import value equal to 70 % of the CN 8-digit total. Finally, in order to keep the response load in data-collection within reasonable limits only the top 5 enterprises of each CN 8-digit have been included in the sample on a permanent basis.
Sample size: the basket of goods consists of  28 representative product groups which are surveyed from 105 reporting units.

Frequency of updating the sample: Every five years a new sample is drawn.

Prices are collected on a monthly basis.

Questionnaires used in the survey: One type of questionnaire “Price Survey of Imported Goods” (Preiserhebung für Importwaren) is in use.

Planned changes in national questionnaires: None.

Data collection media: Most of the data are collected by means of electronic shuttle questionnaire, spreadsheets sent by e-mail respectively by post to the respondents and returned to ST.AT by the same channels. It is also possible for respondents to return survey questionnaires by telephone or fax. From July 2008 have respondents the possibility to choose web-based questionnaires.

 Planned changes in data collection methodology: None.

Validation levels as defined by Eurostat are carried out:

Validation level 0: Format and file structure checks.

Validation level 1,2,3 : There are checks on concistency, completeness and changes of each record. In the event of substantial price changes, missing prices and changes of product description respondents are contacted to explain them. The same procedure takes place when preices are unchanged for a long time.

Validation level 4: Cross-checks with low level aggregates from the wholesale price index.

Validation level 5: cross-checks with unit value indices from foreign trade statistics and regular comparison with market prices (of various stock exchanges).

Import price indices are Laspeyres indices and they are based on the concept of a fixed basket of goods, weighting scheme and fixed performance of the chosen commodities. Changes (new product, change of quality, different selling conditions, etc.) have to be integrated into the computation of the index without affecting the continuity of the index series.

i) The part of the price difference to the previous month that is caused by the difference in quality has to be eliminated.

• Overlap pricing;
• Matched model approach;
• Expert estimates.

ii) New price quotations that show no significant change of quality and no considerable price difference in comparison to its predecessor are incorporated directly into the index calculation.
Index compilation:
The calculation of the Import Price Index was done in 2 steps:

1. At the micro level the computation is based upon the method of price relatives, where the current price of each observation is compared to the 2015 average price. Out of all the price relatives for one commodity (CN 8-digit) an unweighted geometrically averaged price relative was calculated.
2. Subsequently at the macro level, these price relatives are aggregated with their weights to the corresponding CPA 4-digits using the Laspeyres formula.

At the CN 8-digit level price relatives are aggregated with their weights to the corresponding CPA 4-digits using the Laspeyres formula. Weights come from the foreign trade statistics (Intrastat, Extrastat).

None.

No comment.