National Statistical Institute

SBS Department

2, P. Volov Str.; 1038 Sofia, Bulgaria

The Prodcom Survey is conducted by the NSI of Bulgaria. It is carried out in compliance with the 

 Regulation (EU) 2022/ of 12 December 2022 laying down the technical specifications of data requirements for the detailed topic industrial production statistics establishing the industrial products classification breakdown, pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council and amending Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197, as regards the coverage of the product classification (europa.eu)

Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 on European business statistics, repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics and 

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197 of 30 July 2020 laying down technical specifications and arrangements pursuant to 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   

The survey provides data on industrial articles manufactured on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria and sold, as well as on industrial services rendered. The survey covers enterprises which carry out industrial activity as primary or as secondary.

The main indicators:

• the physical volume of total production;
• the physical volume of production on the basis of contract processing;
• the fee received by the subcontractor - total and from the foreign principal;
• the physical volume of production sold 
• the value of production sold;
• the physical volume of production sold on the domestic market;
• the value of production sold on the domestic market
• volume of sold production on the basis of contract processing (report by the principal)
• value of sold production on the basis of contract processing (report by the principal)
• volume of production sold on the domestic market on the basis of contract processing (report by the principal)
• value of production sold on the domestic market on the basis of contract processing (report by the principal) 

  The annual data at the geographical level of the whole country are available:

• at the level of a product specified in the Nomenclature of Industrial Production (the national version of the Prodcom List, identical to the latter);
• aggregated by product subcategories of the Classification of Products by Economic Activities (CPA 2008).

The taken measures related to submission of the Annual activity reports for 2021 minimized the impact of COVID-19 on the coverage, timeliness and quality of PRODCOM data.

The national version of the Classification of Economic Activities (NACE.BG 2008) is used to be identified a main activity of the enterprise at the class level (4-digit code).

The national version of the Classification of Products by Activity (CPA.BG 2008) is used for definition of product groups to be surveyed.

The Nomenclature of Industrial Production (PRODCOM.BG) provides a standardized list of products (about 3900) for which the statistics must be reported.

PRODCOM.BG is a hierarchical system for classification of industrial goods and services which consists of lists of classes from the NACE.BG Rev.2. Headings in each class are set out in ascending order of their PRODCOM.BG codes, grouped according to the corresponding CPA.BG 2008 headings.

PRODCOM.BG enables consistent link of production data to External trade statistics. Coverage of headings in PRODCOM.BG is defined by one or more headings of the Combined Nomenclature of the European Community.

PRODCOM.BG is identical to the List of products (Prodcom List) used for the survey of industrial production in the European Community. It is revised each year reflecting the latest changes and modifications made in the Prodcom List.

The data refer to products, manufactured by enterprises which carry out one of the activities in sections B or C of NACE Rev.2.

The products: industrial goods and services. The PRODCOM.BG defines the products to be included in the survey.

The value of production: the value is expressed in thousand BGN, excl.VAT and excise duties.

The volume of production: the volume is expressed in a unit specified for each product.

The volume unit: the measurement unit, such as kilogram, sq meter etc., used to indicate the volume of produced goods.

Production type: for all products in PRODCOM.BG data for the following indicators are collected:

• Volume of total production - the actual production which has been carried out during the reference period, irrespective of whether this production has been sold, put on stocks or used for further processing by the same enterprise. Production of products on the basis of contract processing is also included. The enterprise physically carrying out the production, i.e. the (sub)contractor, reports the quantity of total production;
• Volume of total production on the basis of contract processing - the actual production which has been carried out during the reference period by the (sub)contractor;
• Total fee paid to the subcontractor - the fee received by the subcontractor for the work done (thousand BGN, excluding VAT and excise duties);
• Fee paid to the subcontractor by the foreign principal - the fee received by the subcontractor for the work done (thousand BGN, excluding VAT and excise duties) from the foreign principal.
• Volume of sold production - sold production quantities produced on own account sold during the reference period irrespective of when it has been manufactured.
• Volume of sold production on the basis of contract processing (report by the principal) - production on the basis of contract processing and the principal who receives the finished goods and sells them reports the volume;
• Value of sold production - sold production value produced on own account (including industrial services) sold during the reference period (thousand BGN, excluding VAT and excise duties).       
• Value of sold production on the basis of contract processing (report by the principal)- production on the basis of contract processing and the principal who receives the finished goods and sells them reports the value;
• Volume of production sold on the domestic market - sold production quantities produced on own account sold during the reference period on the domestic market irrespective of when it has been manufactured..
• Volume of production sold on the domestic marketon the basis of contract processing (report by the principal) - production on the basis of contract processing and the principal who receives the finished goods and sells them reports the volume;
• Value of production sold on the domestic market - sold production value produced on own account (including industrial services) sold on the domestic market during the reference period (thousand BGN, excluding VAT and excise duties).      
• Value of production sold on the domestic marketon the basis of contract processing (report by the principal) - production on the basis of contract processing and the principal who receives the finished goods and sells them reports the value;

The observation unit is Enterprise/ Legal Unit.

The reporting unit is Enterprise.

The survey population consists of enterprises whose principal or secondary activity is listed in section B or C of the NACE Rev.2.

The  data on total production refer to industrial products, manufactured on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria.

The observation period is one calendar year.

Industrial products statistics based on the PRODCOM list are available from 2001.

Older data are available in printed publications and by request at this link. 

The Information System INFOSTAT is used for free of charge online requests for Prodcom data aggregated by product subcategories of the Classification of Products by Economic Activities (CPA.BG 2008) for period 2008-2021 at this link.

Not applicable.

For volume: Physical measurement unit required by the Nomenclature of Industrial Production (PRODCOM.BG), specific for each product.

For value: Thousand BGN, excl. VAT and excise duties.

Calendar 2022 year.

Bulgarian legislation:

• Statistics Act;
• National Statistical Program for 2022
• Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 on European business statistics, repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics
• Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197 of 30 July 2020 laying down technical specifications and arrangements pursuant to 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
• COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No.973/2007 of 20 August 2007 amending certain EC Regulations on specific statistical domains implementing the statistical classification of economic activities NACE Revision 2;  

Not applicable at Member States level.

• Statistics Act;
• Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

The primary data of enterprises are confidential according to the Statistics Act and the European legislation. The national rules define as confidential the information which aggregates the data on less than three enterprises or population, in which the relative share of studied parameter of one enterprise is over 85% of the total value of this parameter for all population units.

Data are published in accordance with the date specified in the Release Calendar presenting the results of the statistical surveys carried out by the National Statistical Institute.

The release calendar is available on the NSI website.

All users are treated equitably. Data are always dissminated to all the users at the same time.

Annually. Updated as required to publish revised data.

Once a year preliminary data on output of main industrial products and product groups in tabular form, attached to the press release on SBS data.

•  Statistical Yearbook can be accessed here : Statistical Yearbook 2022
•  Statistical Reference Book can be found here: Statistical  Reference Book 2023
•  Regions, districts and municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria can be found here: Regions, districts and municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria 2021

Excel spreadsheet presents data on Total production in volume, Volume of total production on the basis of contract processing, Volume and value of sold production, Volume and value of sold production on the basis of contract processing (report by the principal) for 2022. The data are aggregated by product subcategories of the Classification of Products by Economic Activities (CPA.BG 2008) and can be accessed at this link.

The Information System INFOSTAT is used for online requests for Prodcom data for period 2008-2021 at this link.

The data set is accessible as micro-data for Scientific and Research Purposes only, in accordance with the Rules for Provision of Anonymised Individual Data for Scientific and Research Purposes. The Rules can be found at this link.

Annual data submission to Eurostat and to the UN (Industrial Commodity Statistics Questionnaire).

Detailed information on all indicators and PRODCOM.BG product headings is provided on request, accesing this link.

The methodological notes to the survey are available at this link.

Report on the quality of 2004 Prodcom data was prepared and submitted to Eurostat in 2005.

According to the latest amendments to the Corporate Income Tax Act, the Personal Income Taxes Act, the Accounting Act and the National Statistical Programme for 2022, the deadline for submission of the Annual activity reports for 2022 is until 30 June 2023.

 The main quality assurance activity for Prodcom is the data validation.

A number of validation procedures, from data collection to data dissemination are performed:

• Automatic checks - performed in the process of data entry.
• Logical checks - data control of correctness of the suspicious size of the values or incompleteness of the data. Errors of this type are corrected through direct contacts with the enterprises.
• Micro checks - at the level of observational unit.
• Macro checks - at the level of product (8-digit PRODCOM.BG code) and NACE class (4-digit code).

Micro and macro plausibility checks are performed as historical and actual data are compared; comparison with other sources (External trade and SBS especially) is also made.

The on-line based information system “Business Statistics“  being used for data collection ensures automatically the arithmetic and logical controls of the input data, performing controls inside the Prodcom questionnaire and links to corresponding indicators in other questionnaires and reports. The system is an effective instrument to enhance data quality, but automatic controls of different kinds can not solve the largest problem in Prodcom, namely classification of products under correct code. Identification of some Prodcom codes require special technical understanding by this way encumbering considerably not only respondents, but also the NSI. Misclassification reduces the data quality and imposes revisions of data.

The  deadline for submission of the Аnnual activity reports for 2022 (PRODCOM survey is part of the Аnnual activity reports) reduce the time for processing and logical review of statistical data and difficulties to contact with respondents/enterprises at the level of statistical office.

The most important categories of users are:

• International users: Eurostat, the United Nations, FAO, WBMS, ICSG, IFA
• National users (outside NSI):  ministries, the Bulgarian National bank, research institutes, universities, economic analysts and students Private non-governmental organisations, agencies, associations, media etc.
• Internal users (inside NSI): National accounts, Environmental statistics, SBS, STS

The national governments need data to monitor industry and markets and to develop their corresponding policies. The enterprises benefit from data provided by the Prodcom system which allow them to evaluate markets and opportunities for development. Economic analysts and research institutes need data on manufactured goods for understanding trends in sales of products or industry groups over time.

Environmental Statistics require statistics on products such as hazardous chemicals, manufacturing impact on greenhouse gases and other products with an environmental impact. National accounts statistics use Prodcom data for Supply Use Tables as integral part of measurement of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and as detailed weights for national Consumer Prices Indices (CPI) construction.

No user satisfaction survey has been done for Prodcom statistics.

Data on all variables and Production Types required are collected and submitted to Eurostat.

In conditions of COVID - 19, we transmitted full sets of indicators.

The survey is sample based. The sampling design covers exhaustively all enterprises manufacturing industrial commodities and/or rendering industrial services with a specified threshold of receipts from sales of industrial production and industrial services. The sample model ensures 90% coverage of sold production in terms of value at the national level for each NACE.BG 2008 class.

Response rate for 2022 is 99.89%

In connection with COVID-19 no change in data collection and data processing.

Sampling errors do not occur in the survey. The sample design applied is a cut-off sample, which means that it is a full coverage survey with a cut-off threshold. There is no grossing up for units below the threshold. It is therefore not relevant/possible to calculate sampling error.

The main types of non-sampling errors can be classified as follows:

• coverage errors,
• measurement errors (wrong industrial product codes, wrong volume unit measurement unit, wrong quantities manufactured or sold),
• processing errors,
• non-response errors.

Non-sampling errors are minimized to a great extent by arithmetic and logical controls embedded in the on-line based Information System "Structural Business Statistics" (ISBS).

The ISBS ensures a system of arithmetic and logic controls among the items in each form and between the forms in the report. The dependencies are two types, namely mandatory and recommended.

The Prodcom questionnaire can’t be completed successfully until all errors, detected by the checking program, are corrected.

All the errors are treated, analysed, consulted with the respondent and corrected, if necessary.

The missing values (non-response) are compensated by estimations. As basis the following information is used: monthly data, SBS and External trade data, data from previous years (product history of enterprise), Report on revenues and expenditures, the average unit price for the product (as reported by other respondents).

Non-response rate for 2022 is 0.11%

Item  non-response rate is not applicable.

Imputation - rate is 0.29%

The deadline for data publication at the national level is t+8 months for the preliminary data and t+11 months for the final data, where t is the reference year. The deadline for delivery to Eurostat is 6 months after the end of the reference year.

The  deadline for submission of the Annual Activity Reports for 2022 had an impact on the time for monitoring the data, but not on the deadline for submitting the full data set to Eurostat.

The deadlines under item 14.1 are strictly met.

In conditions of COVID - 19 reduction of the time for review at the level of statistical office.

Not applicable at Member States level.

In terms of time, the data are fully comparable between successive years until 2020.

Introduction of NACE Rev.2 in 2008 resulted in series break. So the length of comparable time series based on NACE Rev.1.1 is from 2001 to 2007, and based on NACE Rev.2 from 2008 onward. Data before 2008 have not been converted from the data based on NACE Rev.2.

Logical control is applied and comparison is made at micro and macro level with the data of the following statistical surveys conducted by the NSI: Short Term Statistics, Structural Business Statistics and External Trade.  

PRODCOM statistics are internally coherent by their nature.

The survey is based ot the Nomenclature of Industrial Production (identical to the Prodcom list) which defines the products to be included in the survey.

Data on these products are obtained by surveying producer enterprises and after that aggregated at the product level (8-digit code). Microdata aggregation can also be made at the 6-digit level of product subcategories of the Classification of Products by Economic Activities (CPA).

Products within NACE Rev.2, class 10.51 (“Operation of dairies and cheese making”) data collected by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food are used as incorporated in the Prodcom data set before transmitting to Eurostat.

The on-line based information system “Business Statistics“ used for data collection saves time and resources of enterprises, while increasing the quality and timeliness of statistical data and reducing non-response and irritation burden.

The workload on respondents is studied by measuring the time spent for completion of the questionnaire (the questionnaire can not be completed successfully without providing information on duration in minutes for data preparation and completion of the questionnaire). For 2022 the average time amounts to 101 min.

Due to the specific character of the survey (over 2.100 time series for BG Prodcom data), the subsequent revisions are regarded to improve data quality.

Calendar of planned revisions:

• First data revision -  T+8
• Second data revision -  T+11
• Final data revision - T+18

Previously published data, whether printed or electronic, are revised after correcting of the errors identified or in order to incorporate better source data, such as more complete or more closely matched to the concepts.

PRODCOM data are subject to continuous review and updating to improve the quality of the disseminated data.

The sample design applied is a cut-off sample, which means that it is a full coverage survey with a cut-off threshold.

        For selection of sampling units the following SBS indicators are used:

• 4-digit NACE code of the main enterprise activity;
• annual receipts from sales of production and services for industrial enterprises (the main activity is classified under NACE Rev.2 07.10 - 33.20) - 120 000 BGN and more annually;
• annual industrial turnover for non-industrial enterprises - the total amount 120 000 BGN and more annually.

The average sample size is about  13857 enterprises. This approach ensures over 90% coverage of sales of all enterprises with industrial activities at NACE Rev.2 class level by observation of  43% of enterprises.

An administrative source - Ministry of Agriculture and Food (data on products within NACE.BG 2008, class 10.51, “Operation of dairies and cheese making“)

Anually.

Generally data are collected by means of web-questionnaire. There is also the possibility to fill-in a paper questionnaire.

Since 2009, for Prodcom data collection information system “Business Statistics“ has been used. The system provides online collection of annual reports of all economic active enterprises in the country and contains a set of accounting and statistical questionnaires. The system ensures automatic arithmetic and logical controls of the input data, performing controls inside the Prodcom questionnaire, and links to corresponding indicators in other forms. The Prodcom questionnaire can not be completed successfully until all the errors, detected by the checking program, are corrected. All collected indicators are in separate positions in Prodcom questionnaire including the new variables such as sold production volume and value produced on own account and production under sub-contracted operations. 

Data validation involves additional logical checks applied to the input data, comparison with the previous year data and additional controls between forms in the Annual Report. Detected erroneous or suspicious values are clarified and if necessary the data are corrected. Data are also checked versus other sources, namely the SBS, STS and External trade. Plausibility checks are performed at micro level (at the level of observational unit) and macro level (at the level of product and NACE class).

Data editing is performed and estimation of unit non-response is made.

The non-response (missing values) are compensated by estimations, using as basis the following information: monthly data, SBS data, data from previous year (product history of enterprise), Report on revenues and expenditures, External trade data, the average unit price for the product (as reported by other respondents).

Results are calculated at the product level (8-digit code) specified in the Nomenclature of Industrial Production (PRODCOM.BG) and at the level of product subcategories (6-digit code) of the Classification of Products by Economic Activities (CPA.BG 2008).

Not applicable.

In order to increase number of publishable data, the data posted on the NSI’s website are aggregated by product subcategories of the Classification of Products by Economic Activities (CPA.BG 2008).