Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
Division for Statistics on Production and Foreign Trade (SEB)
1.3. Contact name
Confidential because of GDPR
1.4. Contact person function
Confidential because of GDPR
1.5. Contact mail address
Via Tuscolana, 1788
00173 Rome Italy
1.6. Contact email address
Confidential because of GDPR
1.7. Contact phone number
Confidential because of GDPR
1.8. Contact fax number
Confidential because of GDPR
2.1. Metadata last certified
6 June 2025
2.2. Metadata last posted
6 June 2025
2.3. Metadata last update
6 June 2025
3.1. Data description
Import prices index is compiled according to the Euro/non-Euro breakdown:
Import price Euro area
Import price non-Euro area
The industrial import price index is a monthly short-term indicator used for business cycle analysis.
The industrial import price index measures changes in prices of a representative basket of the main industrial products bought (in the Euro zone and the non-Euro zone) by industrial and commercial enterprises resident in Italy
3.2. Classification system
Statistical Classification of Products by Activity, CPA 2.1
3.3. Coverage - sector
The observation field of the import survey concerns products included in sections B, C and D of the CPA classification (with the exclusion of the following products: B0721, B09, C18, C2446, C254, C301, C303, C304 and C33.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
The price is an actual transaction price collected when the ownership of the goods is transferred. The price is the c.i.f. (cost, insurance and freight) price at the national border, excluding all duties and taxes on imports to be shouldered by the reporting unit. Other sale conditions are defined by the most common contracts. Data are collected for the euro zone and the non-euro zone.
3.5. Statistical unit
Industrial and commercial enterprises. The observation unit is the same as the reporting unit
3.6. Statistical population
Sections B, C, D of CPA (B0721, B09, C18, C2446, C254, C301, C303, C304, C33 not included).
3.7. Reference area
The whole national territory
3.8. Coverage - Time
Monthly data have been available according to the NACE Rev. 2 classification at the 3-digit level since January 2005; time series for the period January 2005- December 2009 have been reconstructed.
The reconstruction of the time series on import prices for the period of January 2005 -December 2009
Nota Informativa 16 October 2015 (this document is only available in Italian)
3.9. Base period
The indices are chain-type indices.
Reference period: 2021=100
Base period: The base period of the index of year y is the last month of the previous year y-1.
Indices
Month
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
Legal basis at the national and European level.
National level: this survey is one of the compulsory surveys fixed every year by a Decree of the President of the Republic (D.P.R.)
Obligation on units to provide data: the survey is mandatory. Penalties are foreseen for non-response.
Planned changes in legal basis, obligation to respond and frame used: None.
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
Data are transmitted to Eurostat monthly and are available at Database - Eurostat (Theme Industry, trade and services, topic Short-term business statistics (sts)/Industry (sts_ind)).
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
Several national legal acts guarantee the confidentiality of data requested for statistical purposes. According to art. 9, paragraph 1 of the Legislative Decree n. 322 of 1989, personal data can only be disseminated in aggregate form, in order to make it impossible to identify individuals. The Personal Data Protection Code - introduced by the Legislative Decree no. 196 of 30 June 2003 - and Legislative Decree no. 101 of 10 September 2018 (General Data Protection Regulation) provides special rules concerning the processing of personal data for statistical purposes within the National Statistical System (Sistan). Furthermore, to make statistical confidentiality and protection of personal data effective, Istat is currently taking appropriate organizational, logistical, methodological and statistical measures following internationally established standards.
The documents are only available in Italian
Links to relevant legal acts on statistics are also listed on the website of Sistan.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
Survey elementary data are treated as confidential. Aggregated data are disseminated in IstatData.
Some variables can be transmitted to Eurostat as confidential when they are not disseminated in Italy.
8.1. Release calendar
Every year in December, Istat sends to Eurostat a transmission calendar providing precise dates for the coming year. Since January 2016 data (first issue in March 2016), import price indices are released in a merged press release, import price and external trade.
Indices are published simultaneously to all interested parties by issuing the press release "Foreign trade and import prices”. The press release (Italian version and short English version) is subsequently posted on Istat's website, section Prices. Previous releases are accessible in the archive Prices/Archive.
No one has pre-release access to the statistics.
Eurostat receives embargoed data in advance of its publishing date; data are transmitted monthly by EDAMIS using SDMX-ML format. Data are transmitted once per month: provisional data for the month t-2 and final data for the month t-3.
The short-term information is also used for quarterly and annual National Accounts.
Monthly
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
Since December 2013 there has been a monthly news release for import prices, since January 2016 data (first issue in March 2016), there is a merged press release, import price and external trade
Indices are published in the "Annuario Statistico Italiano" (ASI) - Italian Statistical Yearbook - Chapter 16 Annuario StatisticoItaliano/Prezzi (this document is available in Italian only)
10.3. Dissemination format - online database
The data are published in IstatData, theme of the database "Prices", dataset "Import prices index - Monthly data" - (base 2021). IstatData’s online database is open and free of charge, the statistics are organized by categories and themes. The data are presented in aggregate form in multidimensional tables. By acting on variables, reference periods and the arrangement of heads and sides, users can create custom tables and charts. Data sets can be searched by keyword, theme and region. The platform uses the open-source tools "Data Browser" and "Meta & Data Manager" developed by Istat (ISTAT Statkit), following the international standard SDMX (Statistical Data and Metadata exchange) for the exchange and sharing of statistical data and metadata.
Data are sent to Eurostat according to the required standards by EDAMIS using SDMX format. Eurostat receives embargoed data in advance of its publishing date.
This index is also one of the 'Principal European Economic Indicators (PEEIs)
10.6. Documentation on methodology
Generally, major changes in methodology are announced in a short period in advance in the publication Nota Informativa.
Description of the methodology and characteristics of the survey is contained in the methodological note attached to the press release updated regularly.
A more detailed description of methodology and sources for the compilation of indices is reported in the Information System for Survey Documentation and Quality Control (SIQual). This system manages qualitative information related to every single phase of a survey's production process.
The quality assurance framework is based on the contents of the document "Quality Guidelines For Statistical Processes" - Istat - December 2012 (Quality guidelines for statistical process.)
Istat reference framework for quality policies relies on the European Statistics Code of Practice, adopted in 2005 (last revised in 2017), on the Eurostat Quality Definition and on the recommendations of the LEG on Quality. The Data Quality Assessment Framework, developed by the International Monetary Fund, also represents an important reference. Following the principles of the European Statistics Code of Practice, Italy has adopted the Italian Code of Official Statistics in order to promote quality improvements in the statistics produced by the Italian National Statistical System.
(Directive No 12/COMSTAT (only available in Italian) in Italian Official Journal No. 23, General Series of 29 January 2022). Following Eurostat Quality Definition, the requirements of statistical products are:
to be relevant concerning users' information needs
to be accurate, that is to provide estimates or indicators that are as reliable as possible; to be timely, catching the phenomena to be observed
to be easily accessible and supported by metadata, allowing for a full understanding of the data; to enable comparisons over time or among different sources.
The main users of the industrial import prices index are:
Institutions: government departments, ECB, national central bank, international organizations, etc.
Social actors: employers' organizations, trade unions, lobby groups, etc.
Media
Researchers & students, Enterprises/businesses
Internal users
Eurostat.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Not available
12.3. Completeness
Not available
13.1. Accuracy - overall
The sample is based on a non-probabilistic design; therefore, sampling errors cannot be measured. Non-sampling errors are reduced or eliminated in the collection phase both using an electronic questionnaire that helps to debug and aiming to increase the response rate of enterprises.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable, it is not possible to compute sampling errors because a non-probability sampling method is used.
13.3. Non-sampling error
The response rate of the first estimate is about 96%
The response rate of the definitive estimate is about 97%
Reminders are sent to non-respondents and follow-up operations are carried out
14.1. Timeliness
The deadline for the data transmission is 45 days after the end of the reference period.
14.2. Punctuality
All releases were delivered according to the timetable.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
Not applicable, only national level
15.2. Comparability - over time
Comparable time series for import prices are available since January 2005
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Not available
15.4. Coherence - internal
Import price index is a system of three variables, algebraically coherent; two of them are surveyed (euro zone, non-euro zone); the third (total) is compiled as a weighted arithmetic mean of the surveyed ones. Furthermore, each variable is computed as a weighted average mean (Laspeyres type index) of sub-indexes, therefore, internal coherence is straightforward. Moreover, the coherence is achieved annually by updating weights (indexes are annually chain-linked).
The cost estimate is compiled in terms of total number of hours worked (THW), which is is equal to the product of three terms: (total) Annual Working Days (AWD), (total) Hours Worked per Day (HWD), Number of Persons involved in the Survey (NPS).
AWD
HWD
NPS
Cost estimate (THW)
220
7.12
8
12,531
Type of Respondent
Burden estimate (TNM)
Beginner
10 min. ≤ burden ≤ 20 min.
Expert
5 min. ≤ burden ≤ 10 min.
The burden estimate is compiled in terms of the total number of minutes (TNM) taken to fill in the (web) questionnaire. The burden is applied to the respondent, i.e. the person who fills in the questionnaire on behalf of the enterprise. To estimate it, two elements have been taken into account. The first distinguishes between beginner and expert respondents, to point out respectively the person who fills in the web questionnaire for the first time and the one who is familiar with filling in the form. The second closely concerns the information that has to be provided monthly. On average, by combining these two elements, the time spent to fill in the questionnaire (just the burden) is estimated in terms of the total number of minutes ranging between a minimum and a maximum threshold
17.1. Data revision - policy
Generally, major changes in methodology, sources and statistical techniques are announced in ad hoc publications. Advance notification of methodological changes is also provided through seminars and papers disseminated throughout the scientific community. The same revision policy is applied nationally and in transmissions to Eurostat
17.2. Data revision - practice
Currently, Import price indices are not revised and are seasonally adjusted. Data are first released as "provisional" (45 days after the end of the reference period) and subsequently as "final" (75 days after the end of the reference period). The distance between provisional and final data allows for an increase in the response rate. The Mean Absolute Revision (MAR), Mean Revision (MR) and RMAR (Relative Mean Absolute Revision) are compiled for totals. These indicators refer to 36 monthly data from 2022 to 2024.
MR
MAR
RMAR
-0,0389
0,1389
0,0145
18.1. Source data
Data are collected through a statistical survey. The Foreign Trade statistics are used as a frame. The survey is conducted on the basis of a sample (based on a non-probabilistic design). The sample is drawn by quotas, calculated in order to guarantee sufficient coverage in terms of import values. Since 2022 the sample of products and the list of enterprises are yearly updated.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Monthly
18.3. Data collection
Self-administered data collection via electronic transmission (online survey), data are collected through a web portal called Portale Imprese
Respondents need to login to insert data in the web questionnaire
18.4. Data validation
Data validation is carried out on:
Prices, by guided and checked data-entry procedures that prevent the incompleteness errors that could occur during the recording phases and to identify the outlier prices (filtering method);
Trend of indices, by comparison between the percentage change on the previous month, the percentage change on the corresponding month of the previous year;
Non-response data (prices) are estimated.
18.5. Data compilation
Since January 2022, import price indices have been compiled according to the methodology of the annual chain-linking on a monthly basis. The reference base period is the year 2021.
The system of import price indices is made up of two surveyed variables, referring to the Euro area and the non-Euro area, and a summary variable – total (Euro and non-Euro areas). The variables are calculated as base period indices and successively released as reference base indices.
The compilation process is made up of three steps.
The first step deals with the definition of price relatives (quotients of current prices – numerator – and base prices, denominator, the month of December of the preceding year).
In the second step, prices relatives associated with each product are aggregated by simple geometric average to provide product indices.
In the third step, the product indices are aggregated by weighted arithmetic averages (Laspeyres type formula) to provide the whole set of sub-aggregate indices and the overall one.
Data for non-respondents are estimated.
Adjustments for quality changes: when a price variation is due to changes in the price-determining characteristics, a quality change occurs; the algorithm applied is the overlap one.
New price quotations are introduced only when the index base is updated.
Seasonal items: the most recent price collected is held constant until new prices are reported for the same season.
Method of weighting and chaining: The weighting system is defined at the national level. The index weighting system is derived from the international trade statistics. Two weighting systems are used depending on the Euro and the non-Euro area. Total indices are defined by weighted arithmetic means of Euro and non-Euro indices. The variable used to set up weights is the annual value of imports of goods. For both areas, values concern goods according to the Combined Nomenclature (eight-digit level). These data are reported to the PRODCOM nomenclature by the corresponding tables available on the Eurostat website.
18.6. Adjustment
Working day or seasonal adjustments are not performed
Not applicable
Import prices index is compiled according to the Euro/non-Euro breakdown:
Import price Euro area
Import price non-Euro area
The industrial import price index is a monthly short-term indicator used for business cycle analysis.
The industrial import price index measures changes in prices of a representative basket of the main industrial products bought (in the Euro zone and the non-Euro zone) by industrial and commercial enterprises resident in Italy
6 June 2025
The price is an actual transaction price collected when the ownership of the goods is transferred. The price is the c.i.f. (cost, insurance and freight) price at the national border, excluding all duties and taxes on imports to be shouldered by the reporting unit. Other sale conditions are defined by the most common contracts. Data are collected for the euro zone and the non-euro zone.
Industrial and commercial enterprises. The observation unit is the same as the reporting unit
Sections B, C, D of CPA (B0721, B09, C18, C2446, C254, C301, C303, C304, C33 not included).
The whole national territory
Month
The sample is based on a non-probabilistic design; therefore, sampling errors cannot be measured. Non-sampling errors are reduced or eliminated in the collection phase both using an electronic questionnaire that helps to debug and aiming to increase the response rate of enterprises.
Indices
Since January 2022, import price indices have been compiled according to the methodology of the annual chain-linking on a monthly basis. The reference base period is the year 2021.
The system of import price indices is made up of two surveyed variables, referring to the Euro area and the non-Euro area, and a summary variable – total (Euro and non-Euro areas). The variables are calculated as base period indices and successively released as reference base indices.
The compilation process is made up of three steps.
The first step deals with the definition of price relatives (quotients of current prices – numerator – and base prices, denominator, the month of December of the preceding year).
In the second step, prices relatives associated with each product are aggregated by simple geometric average to provide product indices.
In the third step, the product indices are aggregated by weighted arithmetic averages (Laspeyres type formula) to provide the whole set of sub-aggregate indices and the overall one.
Data for non-respondents are estimated.
Adjustments for quality changes: when a price variation is due to changes in the price-determining characteristics, a quality change occurs; the algorithm applied is the overlap one.
New price quotations are introduced only when the index base is updated.
Seasonal items: the most recent price collected is held constant until new prices are reported for the same season.
Method of weighting and chaining: The weighting system is defined at the national level. The index weighting system is derived from the international trade statistics. Two weighting systems are used depending on the Euro and the non-Euro area. Total indices are defined by weighted arithmetic means of Euro and non-Euro indices. The variable used to set up weights is the annual value of imports of goods. For both areas, values concern goods according to the Combined Nomenclature (eight-digit level). These data are reported to the PRODCOM nomenclature by the corresponding tables available on the Eurostat website.
Data are collected through a statistical survey. The Foreign Trade statistics are used as a frame. The survey is conducted on the basis of a sample (based on a non-probabilistic design). The sample is drawn by quotas, calculated in order to guarantee sufficient coverage in terms of import values. Since 2022 the sample of products and the list of enterprises are yearly updated.
Monthly
The deadline for the data transmission is 45 days after the end of the reference period.
Not applicable, only national level
Comparable time series for import prices are available since January 2005
