Statistical Service of Cyprus (Cystat)

Industrial Statistics Unit

Michael Karaoli str., 1444 Nicosia, Cyprus

Industrial Output Prices Index.

NACE Rev. 2.

Sections B, C, D and Division 36.

• Industrial Output Prices Total.
• Industrial Output Prices for the Domestic Market.
• Industrial Output Prices for the non-Domestic Market.
• Industrial Output Prices for the Eurozone Market (only for NACE Rev. 2 Divisions 10, 21 – participation in European Sample Schemes).
• Industrial Output Prices for the non-Eurozone Market (only for NACE Rev. 2 Divisions 10, 21 – participation in European Sample Schemes).

There are no discrepancies with the definition of variables laid down in the Commission Implementing Regulation 2020/1197.

The observation and the reporting unit is the enterprise.

All industrial products (as defined by PRODCOM) produced by enterprises with main activity in the industrial sector (5319 units in 2015). The frame for selecting the products is the list of sales of industrial products in the base year. The frame for selecting the enterprises producing the products is the sample of the SBS Industrial Survey in the base year (1466 units in 2015).

Republic of Cyprus.

The survey for manufacturing has been carried out since 1978. Prices for electricity, water and mining and quarrying have been collected since 1998.

Base year 2015.

Indices (2015=100).

Month.

For manufacturing, mining and quarrying and water distribution the reference date is the first Thursday of the month. For electricity, the price is an average for a two-month period and for water desalination, an average of a quarterly period. 

Article 3 of the national Official Statistics Law, No. 25(I) of 2021 defines the functions of the Statistical Service of Cyprus regarding the production and dissemination of official statistics. Moreover, Article 13, explicitly stipulates the mandate for data collection and introduces a mandatory response to statistical enquiries by stipulating the obligation of respondents to reply to surveys and provide the data required. This relates not only to national but also to European statistics which, by virtue of Article 8 of the said Law, are incorporated in the annual and multiannual programmes of work without any further procedure.  

The legal basis for the short-term statistics is the European Business Statistics (EBS) Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 on 27 November 2019, followed by the Commission Implementing Regulation 2020/1197 laying down technical specifications and arrangements pursuant to the mentioned EBS Regulation (General Implementing Act). The former legal basis for the STS indicators is the Council Regulation No 1165/98 of 19 May 1998 concerning short-term statistics and subsequent amending regulations.

Data are sent to Eurostat. Also, the data are sent to the UN, via questionnaire on a monthly basis.

Official statistics are released in accordance to all confidentiality provisions of the following:

• National Official Statistics Law No. 25(I) of 2021 (especially Article 16 on statistical confidentiality).
• Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics and its later amendments (especially Chapter 5 on statistical confidentiality).
• European Statistics Code of Practice (especially Principle 5 on statistical confidentiality).
• CYSTAT's Code of Practice for the Collection, Publication and Storage of Statistical Data.

Links to all of the above documents:

• Statistics Law No. 25(I) of 2021: 

https://www.cystat.gov.cy/en/StaticPage?id=1074  

• Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (consolidated text):

 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:02009R0223-20150608&qid=1504858409240&from=EN

• European Statistics Code of Practice:

 http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-manuals-and-guidelines/-/KS-32-11-955

• Code of Practice for the Collection, Publication and Storage of Statistical Data: 

https://www.cystat.gov.cy/en/StaticPage?id=1066

No data is considered confidential at the level published with the exception of NACE Division 35 where there is only one enterprise operating which is of public ownership. The treatment of confidential data is regulated by CYSTAT's Code of Practice for the Collection, Publication and Storage of Statistical Data.  https://www.cystat.gov.cy/en/StaticPage?id=1066

In the framework of its mission, CYSTAT provides high-quality statistical information, through the web portal and social media, with the use of statistical products such as announcements, interactive tables, predefined tables, metadata, infographics and publications. The principles and the legal framework governing the dissemination of official statistical data are defined and explained in the document “Dissemination Policy”. The means of dissemination, the main statistical products and the services provided to the users, are also presented. Additionally, the document describes the procedures for data revision and error treatment. The link is as follows: Dissemination Policy of the Statistical Service of Cyprus (cystat.gov.cy)

An annual release calendar is prepared and forwarded to Eurostat. At national level, a release calendar with preliminary dates for the next four months is published at Cystat web site. Announcements are confirmed on the Friday preceding their release. Notifications about the dissemination of statistics are published in the release calendar, which is available on CYSTAT’s website. The annual release calendar, announced during the 4th quarter of the year, includes provisional dates of publication for the following year, which are finalised the week before publication. 

The release calendar published at national level can be found at: https://www.cystat.gov.cy/en/AnnouncementList

As provided in article 4(1) of the Official Statistics Law (Law No. 25(I)/2021) regarding the principle of impartiality, statistics are disseminated in such a way that all users have equal and simultaneous access to the data. Also, according to the Dissemination and Pricing Policy of the Statistical Service of Cyprus (section 2.3) CYSTAT΄s main channel for dissemination of statistics is the web portal, which offers the same conditions to everyone and is updated at the same time every working day (12:00 noon). Privileged pre-released access (of no more than 1 day in advance) has been granted to a few selected users for specific statistics. These are specified in the Dissemination Policy (section 2.3).

In addition to the annual release calendar, users are informed of the various statistical releases through the “Alert” service provided by CYSTAT.

Link to the Dissemination and Pricing Policy of the Statistical Service of Cyprus can be found at:https://www.cystat.gov.cy/en/StaticPage?id=1064.

Monthly.

There is a regular monthly news release accompanying the data. The news release is accompanied by a set of Predefined Tables available in Excel format and is disseminated on a monthly basis on the new Cystat web portal. The index is presented in gross form, broken down by activity (of NACE Divisions aggregates) and by market (total, local, export).The Predefined Tables include data up to the fourth quarter of 2022. Data from the first quarter of 2023 onwards, are available only in the CYSTAT-DB Online Database.

The data are published in the statistical yearbook “Statistical Abstract”.

CYSTAT-DB is the online database of the Statistical Service of Cyprus. It gives users the ability to produce the desired table, to format the presentation, to edit and make calculations and to save it in any form available. Additionally, requests can be saved and used at a later stage to get the updated table with the latest available statistics. It is an interactive tool, providing the possibility to create customized tables for industrial indices. CYSTAT-DB can be accessed from the home page or alternatively from the pages of statistical sub-themes.

Data on the Industrial Producer Prices Index from the first quarter of 2023 onwards, are available only in the CYSTAT-DB Online Database at the link: PxWeb - Select table (cystat.gov.cy).

There is no microdata access to outside users.

Under the provisions of the Statistics Law, CYSTAT may release microdata for the sole use of scientific research. Applicants have to submit the request form "APPLICATION FOR DATA FOR RESEARCH PURPOSES" giving thorough information on the project for which micro-data are needed.The application is evaluated by CYSTAT’s Confidentiality Committee and if the application is approved, a charge is fixed according to the volume and time consumed for preparation of the data. Micro-data may then be released after an anonymisation process which ensures no direct identification of the statistical units but, at the same time, ensures usability of the data.

The link for the application can be found at: https://www.cystat.gov.cy/en/DataRequestContactForm?fid=7

Data are sent to Eurostat to be released as national data. 

A methodological note is available on the new Cystat web portal at: https://www.cystat.gov.cy/en/KeyFiguresList?s=39

Not available.

The quality of statistics in CYSTAT is managed in the framework of the European Statistics Code of Practice which sets the standards for developing, producing and disseminating European Statistics as well as the ESS Quality Assurance Framework (QAF). CYSTAT endorses the Quality Declaration of the European Statistical System. In addition, CYSTAT is guided by the requirements provided for in Article 11 of the Statistics Law No. 25(I) of 2021 as well as Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics, which sets out the quality criteria to be applied in the development, production and dissemination of European statistics.

Links to all of the above documents:

• European Statistics Code of Practice:

 http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-manuals-and-guidelines/-/KS-32-11-955

• ESS Quality Assurance Framework (QAF): 

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/64157/4392716/ESS-QAF-V1-2final.pdf/bbf5970c-1adf-46c8-afc3-58ce177a0646

• Quality Declaration of the European Statistical System: 

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/4031688/8188985/KS0217428ENN_corr.pdf/116f7c85-cd3e-4bff-b695-4a8e71385fd4

• Statistics Law No. 25(I) of 2021: 

https://www.cystat.gov.cy/en/StaticPage?id=1074

• Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (consolidated text):

 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:02009R0223-20150608&qid=1504858409240&from=EN

The quality of statistics is assessed according to the following quality criteria: relevance, accuracy, timeliness, punctuality, accessibility and clarity, cherence and comparability. The quality indicators are calculated taking into account Eurostat defined methodology and recommendations.

Eurostat, media, researchers, enterprises, industrial federations, trade unions, national accounts.

A user satisfaction survey is carried out on an annual basis since 2008 (with the exception of 2010, 2013 and 2020) but is not specific to short-term indicators. It does not allow for adequate conclusions to be made on this specific indicator. The results of the surveys are available on CYSTAT’s new web portal at the link attached below. Overall, there is a high level of satisfaction of the users of statistical data published by CYSTAT.

The results of Cystat's user satisfaction survey can be found at: https://www.cystat.gov.cy/en/StaticPage?id=1144

The data are transmitted to Eurostat at the level of detail required by the Regulation. They are also published at national level at NACE Divisions aggregates.

The Industrial Producer Prices Index is based on a sample survey and therefore sampling errors are likely to occur but are not estimated. Non-sampling errors derived from data collection and processing as well as quality issues are considered to be small, nevertheless actions are undertaken to minimize them. The data check procedure is very effective. The index do not need to be changed after the first release since there is almost exhaustive collection of all prices at the time of the release. But, if there is a need for a revision, the impact is very small based on further quality checks.

For the Industrial Producer Prices Index, the sampling scheme is as follows:

The statistical population is all industrial products (as defined by PRODCOM) produced by enterprises with main activity in the industrial sector (5319 units in 2015). The frame for selecting the products is the list of sales of industrial products in the base year. The frame for selecting the enterprises producing the products is the sample of the SBS Industrial Survey in the base year (1466 units in 2015).  The choice of products was based on the criterion of highest value of sales in 2015 in each 4-digit NACE code. Then, a sample of enterprises producing these products is selected. From each establishment the main products are selected.  The exporting units are more likely to be selected. The weights for the industrial sector are proportional to the value of sales of industrial products in the base period for each industrial activity.

There are about 310 enterprises in the sample from which about 1800 products/prices are collected.

The sampling errors are induced by the sample design thus can be summarized in the following:

• Errors in determining a representative sample of enterprises.
• Errors in determining a representative sample of products within enterprise to be priced.

The sampling errors are reduced by selecting a large and representative sample of producer prices from a stratified sample, given resource constraints.  Furthermore a variety of products are selected, thus there is a large coverage of the enterprise’s products and there is more than one price per product. 

For the Industrial Producer Prices Index non-sampling errors are not quantified. Efforts are made to reduce non-sampling errors through continuous methodological improvements and survey process improvements. In particular,

• The questionnaire is designed to be clear and simple.
• The personnel working at the prices’ collection stage is well experienced and properly guided to be able to deal with issues such as replacements and new products.
• The data collection is made using the means that each enterprise prefers (e-mail, fax or telephone) in order to reduce non-response. All units are contacted as many times as necessary in order to have the data on time. The response rate is almost 100%.
• The compilation of prices is based on clearly specified, representative products whose prices are followed over time.
• Comparisons are being made between current and previous month’s prices. Also during the data editing process, the entered price is being double checked before finalized. If inconsistencies are detected, the data are verified at micro level by using the raw data of the questionnaire.
• To ensure the quality of the time series, comparative analysis is made with previous years’ results. If inconsistencies are detected, the data are verified at micro level by using the raw data of the questionnaire.

The index is published one month after the end of the reference period.

Both Eurostat and national deadlines are respected. All releases are delivered on time, based on the scheduled release dates.

The EBS Regulation and the EBS methodological guidelines are applied, therefore it is possible to compare the national index with that of other European countries.

Data are comparable over time. When significant changes are introduced (e.g. change of classification, base year or methodology), historical time series are recalculated as far back as it is reasonably possible.

The yearly indices are checked with the annual average price changes calculated from the national PRODCOM survey. Also comparisons are performed with the Consumer Prices Index, where possible.

The data are internally consistent.

No cost and burden exercise has been recently performed.

The production and dissemination of revised figures is an integral part of the STS compilation process. Routine revisions are primarily the result of updated information received from the responding units. Major revisions occur in order to take account of the availability of a new structural source that is only collected at long intervals, an update of the base year and the weights of an index series, methodological changes such as changes in concepts, definitions and/or classifications used to produce the data and new legal acts entering into force. Unexpected revisions may also occur due to unforeseeable events, such as errors either from the data provider or during compilation.

There is a formal revision policy at Cystat. Cystat publishes its Revision Policy on its web portal Revision Policy (cystat.gov.cy) describing the general rules and principles governing the procedure of revising data published by Cystat. The policy is based on the guidelines of the European Statistical System (ESS) regarding revision policies for Principal European Economic Indicators, also taking into account the Quality Assurance Framework of the ESS and the European Statistics Code of Practice. 

CYSTAT also publishes a list of scheduled revisions (regular or major revisions), also published on its web portal at: https://www.cystat.gov.cy/en/AnnouncementList.

The same practice is applied both to data released nationally and to data transmitted to Eurostat. When revised data are transmitted to Eurostat, these are flagged accordingly and accompanied by the necessary explanations.

Furthermore, CYSTAT has set its strategic goal to provide high-quality statistical information in an objective, transparent, reliable and timely manner. CYSTAT consider quality to be its main advantage in a world experiencing a growing trend of instant information which often lacks the necessary proof of quality. In order to realise strategic goals it is imperative to establish policies which ensure that an organisation is moving towards the right direction. For this reason, CYSTAT establishes the "Quality Policy" which forms the basis of all statistical activities and leads towards continuous improvement of its statistical output.

Routine revisions are carried out by Cystat in order to improve disseminated provisional figures in a way that important information is published as promptly as possible and the number of such revisions is kept to the minimum over a given period of time. Major revisions are backwards implemented for the complete time-series or up to the point where it is feasible and are coordinated across statistical domains. Major revisions are well documented and made public, with an explanation of the reasons for the revision.

When published statistical data are provisional, this is indicated both in the text and the relevant tables. When revised data are disseminated by Cystat, they are appropriately flagged both in the text and the relevant tables and are accompanied by explanatory notes, if needed. For the Industrial Producer Prices Index, data are usually revised on a monthly basis, whenever new data from surveys and other sources are incorporated.

The Mean Revision (MR) of year-on-year growth rates for calendar adjusted data for the Producer prices in industry for the totals (BTE36), taking into account 36 values/growth rates, is for PRON 0,39%, for PRIN 0,52% and for PREN -0,03%.

The Mean Average Revision (MAR) of year-on-year growth rates for calendar adjusted data for the Producer prices in industry for the totals (BTE36), taking into account 36 values/growth rates, is for PRON 1,24%, for PRIN 1,53% and for PREN 0,04%.

The sources used to compile the index are:

• A statistical sample survey in manufacturing, mining and quarrying and water distribution. The sample size is 310 enterprises. First products are selected and then enterprises producing these products and,
• Aministrative sources for electricity and water desalination.

Monthly for all activities, except electricity (every two months) and water desalination (every three months).

Data collection is based on telephone interviews with customized questionnaires according to the products surveyed from each respondent. All units are contacted as many times as necessary in order to have the data on time.

Standard MS Office professional software (MS Excel) is used for the compilation of the index. The data is checked when arrives before any further actions. Plausibility checks are made for instance on the number of observations and range of variable values. Particular attention is given to outlier observations. Contacts with enterprises are performed for verification of data, where necessary.

The statistical results are compared to the previous period and with the corresponding period of the previous year.

For all sectors, a Laspeyres index is compiled, comparing the current value with the base period average value.

A price relative is calculated for each product of each enterprise. For each activity at the NACE Rev. 2 class (4-digit) level, the price relatives for the various products are combined by weighting them by the sales of the products in the base year. This is done separately for the local market, the export market and the total market. Also, for euro area and non-euro area, for activities that are required by the STS Regulation (Divisions 10 and 21). The resulting indices for each activity are combined using as weight the sales of industrial products as derived from PRODCOM base year data. These indices at the activity level are aggregated to higher NACE levels and MIGs using again the sales of industrial products as weight.

If new products are introduced into the survey, the appropriate base year price is estimated, preferably by the respondent.

All indices are compiled gross. The basic indices are compiled at the NACE Rev. 2 class (4-digit) level. The data are not adjusted.

Prices quoted in currencies other than the national one are converted into the national currency using the exchange rate of the reference date (first Thursday of each month).

No additional comments.