Statistics Netherlands

Bussiness statistics, The Hague.

Henri Faasdreef 312, 2492 JP Den Haag 

Index of industrial production (IPI).

NACE Rev. 2.

Activities covered: The survey covers NACE Rev. 2 Sections B to E.

The production index shows the evolution of gross value added at basic prices. Depending on the activity, enterprises report gross production, turnover, physical quantities of products, energy consumption, consumption of raw materials or hours worked.

No changes in data collection are foreseen, other than the use of VAT information to calibrate the results of the sample survey of turnover.

Reporting unit Enterprise (legal unit). Observation unit(s) The enterprise and parts of enterprises (presumed to be KAUs).

The statistical population comprises the observation units (enterprises) that are economically active in the sectors B to E (NACE Rev. 2) in the period under review.

For 2022, there are ± 73.000 enterprises in the population

Geographical area covered: The geographical area covered by the survey is the Netherlands - no regions are excluded.

Date of first use as a source: 2000.

Base (reference) year: The base year at present is 2015. Once every five years the index is revised.

Indexes. Also percentage change published nationally.

 Month.

Legal basis: Statistics Netherlands is fully independent in terms of its statistical operations with respect to methodology and publications. Independence was granted by the Royal Act of 1899 and reconfirmed by law in 1996 and 2003. The CBS Law of 2003 is available in English and Dutch. The public can find it at the CBS website

(Wet- & regelgeving (cbs.nl)).

European Business Statistics Regulation

• 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)
• Commission Implementing Regulation 2020/1197 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 statistic (General Implementing Act)
• Commission Implementing Decision 2021/1003 granting derogations to certain Member States with respect to the transmission of statistics pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 (Derogations)
• STS data requirements overview June 2021
• STS data requirements by country size June 2021

Statistiscs netherlands makes all the non-confidential data available on its website. Selected data in special formats are transmitted monthly to Eurostat, the CPB (Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis), the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) and UN (United Nations).

Statistics Netherlands is fully independent in terms of its statistical operations with respect to methodology and publications. Independence was granted by the Royal Act of 1899 and reconfirmed by law in 1996 and 2003. Data provision was made compulsory by law in 1936. Confidentiality is guaranteed. Individual data are never published without consent.

The CBS Law of 2003 is available in English and Dutch. The public can find it at the CBS website (https://www.cbs.nl/nr/rdonlyres/bbd8113d-7ee5-4be4-8879-685253b31882/0/statisticsnetherlandsactjune2013.pdf).

Treatment of confidential data: All activities which consist of fewer than four enterprises or in which one enterprise has a market share of 70% or more are confidential.

A rolling 5 months-ahead release calendar is published in the schedule by date of Statistics Netherlands. When approximate release dates are given, the precise dates are announced on the last working day of the week prior to the release.

http://www.cbs.nl/nl-NL/menu/publicaties/agenda/default.htm?Languageswitch=on

The data are released simultaneously to all interested parties at 6:30 a.m. CET. At the same time the data is also sent to subscribers by e-mail. The untitled press release is subsequently posted on the Statistics Netherlands Internet website.

Monthly.

Data is disseminated monthly at the website, http://www.cbs.nl/en-GB/menu/themas/dossiers/conjunctuur/publicaties/conjunctuurbericht/inhoud/default.htm?Languageswitch=on

The production index data are disseminated in the Business Cycle Report (monthly) as well as the Statistical Bulletin.

The data are published on the CBS Website (http://www.cbs.nl) on Statline.

StatLine - Industry; production and sales, changes and index, 2015=100 (cbs.nl)

There is no user access to microdata.

Data are sent to Eurostat for EU aggregates and as well released as national data.

Dissemination of documentation on methodology and sources used in preparing statistics: A methodological description is available, at http://www.cbs.nl/nl-NL/menu/themas/industrie-energie/methoden/dataverzameling/korte-onderzoeksbeschrijvingen/productiegegevens-nijverheid-excl-bouwnijverheid-methode.htm (dutch only).

Description of standard tables produced: 44 branches are covered and published according to NACE Rev. 2 and ISIC. The other indices from the 91 compiled are not confidential, but are not reliable enough. They are used to calculate aggregated indices. No regional breakdown exists at the moment.

Not available.

There are different policies and procedures guaranteeing quality. Statistical improvements are reviewed by an independent department. There is also a list of methods that have been accepted as best practice. New statistics should use these methods or only deviate with good reasons. Every month the results of the IPI statistics are validated by a independent statistician.

The general quality of the Industrial production index (IPI) is considered good. All quality aspects have been covered.

STS provide statistical information necessary to monitor the competitiveness and performance of the business community in the EU. The STS are used by different users (European Commission and ECB, national governments and central banks, economic analysts in private companies and financial institutions) and serve different purposes.

User satisfaction is measured via download statistics of the online databank and with ad hoc user consultations. There is no further systematic collection of user opinion. Feedback is occasionally given in meetings, email or telephone contacts etc.

Eurostat requirements are fulfilled.

Production and average daily production: the first provisional results are published by CBS within five to seven weeks after the end of the reporting month. Until 70 days after the end of a quarter, the provisional figures may change as a result of subsequent response. The figures normally won't be adjusted until, no later than six months after the end of the year , the last observed response is processed. The effect of missing non-response is typically minor. The industrial production index is based on an integral dataset, no grossing up is carried out. Selection of companies is based on the national business register, the source for NACE-classifications is the Chamber of Commerce. NACE-classifications of companies are adjusted in the business register if activities don’t match.  

The primary input for the production-index is turnover. The units belonging to the sections Mining and quarrying, Manufacturing and Production & distribution of electricity, gas and water are integrally observed, therefore sample margins do not apply.

The production index uses a panel to monitor the turnover development, which updates every month. The effect of non-response is generally small. Missing values are imputed automatically, the effect of the imputation method on the quality of the data is considered to be only minor as is confirmed by manual analysis and validation of the data. No models are used. 

In addition to turnover, the production index also uses other sources such as volumes. Fewer companies provide data on volumes than on turnover. As a result flaws in volume figures have potentially more impact than flaws in turnover figures. Missing responses are followed up by reminders in first stage and then by telephone contacts.

QPI - size-weighted unit response rate of first estimates
The Production Index Industry is unique in the sense that is has a wide range of different types of input, which makes calculating an exact size-weighted unit response rate (SWURR) from the microdata very time-consuming. Although (industrial) turnover is the most used one, a large part consists of data of working hours (maritime industry), volume indicators such as kilos (harvests), m³ (gas extraction), absolute amounts (number of cars produced, amount of chickens slaughtered) and more, just to name a few. Additionally some of the inputs we use are delivered to use as indices or growth rates, of which we do not have the exact microdata to begin with. As such we decided to calculate this QPI using only our turnover data. This is the most commonly used input in the PII and also the potential weighting variable that is known for the largest group of the population.

The monthly average SWURR of our first estimates over 2022 was 89,1% for the whole industry (B through E, excluding D353). It should be noted however that all periods are analyzed multiple additonal times in subsequent periods, with new responses coming in over time. After our annual revision the final weighted respons rate generally hovers around 98%.

First release: within 40 days after the reference month. Monthly corrections are made due to late reporting of enterprises. Three months after the end of the month under review the index is considered to be of good quality; subsequent changes are generally minor. The production index is final after one year, when December is final, with the first publication of April in the following year.

All releases are published according to the release calendar.

For 2022, all the deadlines were respected.

Whole national territory is covered.

The time series 2005-2022 should be comparable over time, since no major changes in methodology or sources have been implemented in that period. Some smaller adjustments have been made to the business register in 2006 and 2009.

All production statistics are integrated into the system of National Accounts. Nominal production values are deflated by price indices. Quarterly information is used to improve monthly indicators.

The main aggregates (Both NACE and MIG) are always consistent with the subaggregates.

Higher NACE aggregates are calculated by weighing the lowest level NACE aggregates.

Chain linking is applied. The volume weights are updated every 5 years.

The sample survey is almost 5250 each month. The total burden for respondents is estimated to be about 16.000 manhours annually.

The cost for the statistical office (data collection, editing, processing etc) is estimated to be about 8.000 manhours annually.

These costs cover the STS and the national requirements

The Statistical office release policy makes a distinction between adjustments, corrections and revisions.

The published results can be changed over time due to several reasons:

- Adjustments are made due to extra information from businesses: the data of the last four reference months are provisional and can be/are adjusted once a month if/when new information is available.

- Corrections for large, apparent mistakes (for example serious editing or processing errors): this type of change is applied very rarely.

- Revisions are due to the change of methodology or base year.

New figures are published once a month for STS purposes. Figures of the three preceding periods can be adjusted due to extra information available.

The National and Eurostat revision policy is the same.

All data/outcomes are benchmarked against both National Accounts (on a quarterly basis) and the industrial turnover STS (monthly). 

The data published are provisional. Final data are published after the first publication of April next year, when December is final.

Possible adjustments to first releases are due to better response.

Final and provisional data are published in Statline http://statline.cbs.nl/StatWeb/publication/?DM=SLEN&PA=81810ENG&D1=0-2&D2=a&D3=(l-17)-l&LA=EN&HDR=G2&STB=G1,T&VW=T with one to three weeks time lag in the Statistical Bulletin http://www.cbs.nl/nl-NL/menu/publicaties/webpublicaties/statistisch-bulletin/archief/2013/default.htm, (dutch only) and with a time lag of several days in industriemonitor: http://www.cbs.nl/nl-NL/menu/themas/industrie-energie/publicaties/industriemonitor/default.htm, (dutch only).

In case of changes in methodology or major changes in the data, the public will be informed in advance by means of a press announcement (not translated on the Internet Site) one or two days in advance of the event. The last major change in methodology was in 2018.

QPIs:
As requested the MR (Mean Revision) and MAR (Mean Absolute Revision) have been calculated for industry PI using (monthly) year-on-year growth rates for unadjusted and calendar adjusted data over the 2020-2022 period (base year 2015), comparing the data from the first made delivery of every month to the latest one. For the calendar adjusted series the MR was equal to -0,1 and the MAR equal to 0,6.

The source for the turnover information that is used to calculate production is a statistical survey. For some Classes of industry the information necessary to calculate production is collected more on a Ad Hoc basis from individual enterprises or institutions, in particular in the food, basic metal, machine and car industry. 

Regarding industrial production data source about 47 percent of the indicator in terms of weight relate to deflated turnover, 39 percent to measurement of physical output, 8 percent to hours worked, 3 percent to calculated value added at constant prices, and the rest to various other methods.

Frame on which the source is based: the General Business Register (Algemeen Bedrijfsregister - ABR).

Sample or census: Census Survey with cut-off threshold.

Criteria for stratification: for mining and manufacturing industries it is a census approach. In Mining no significant threshold is applied. In Manufacturing a threshold of 20 persons employed is applied. The selected enterprises represent around 90% of gross production. Units with fewer than 20 employees (not queried) represent around 10%.

Threshold values and percentages: about 5250 units are surveyed every month. Units with more than 20 persons employed are surveyed exhaustively. Units with fewer then 20 persons emplyed are not surveyed for Manufacturing.

Frequency of updating the sample: Monthly.

Periodicity of data collection 99% of the data is collected mainly monthly. The indices are calculated monthly and quarterly.

Most of the data collection is done by electronic means, both e-mail and direct connection, after receiving a log-in code by mail. A small part of the collection is by postal questionnaire and other means.

Questionnaires used in the survey are monthly questionnaire on sales and order positions and some additional branch-specific information. Quarterly questionnaire on stocks. Specific information is received from companies and from boards of producers.

Data validation is performed as a final step before releasing/disseminating the data. The validation is performed by an independent statistician.

The data file structure is vailidated bij Eurostat itself when uploading the files through eDAMIS. The results of STS are presented in excel-datatables and graphs. The validity of the results is done by examing the tables and graphs.

Estimates for non-response: non-response for turnover is treated using various imputation techniques. The most common estimation is done by using growth rates of the known average of a particular industry multiplied with the value of the previous month.

Estimates for grossing-up to population levels: the weights used for aggregations are based on the value added at basic prices of the most recent available year and includes the value added of the entire population.

Type of index: a simple Laspeyres index is used. Statistics Netherlands calculates the Production index as a chain index.

Method of weighting and chaining: the indices are weighted with the gross value added at basic prices according to the most recently available National Accounts.

As far as turnover is used for the calculation of the index, Producer price indices are used for deflation.

Working day and seasonal adjustment calculations: since 2000 working day adjusted figures (X12-Arima) have been published at the 2-digit level as well as seasonally adjusted figures (X12-Arima) for regroupings of the 2-digit level. 

Regarding the provision of the MR and MAR: in the 2019 Metadata Work Programme we were requested to calculate these variables for ''industry''. As far as we know ''industry'' encompasses the whole of sections B, C, D and E (SBIs 06 through 39). However, even though we calculate and publish this statistic ourselves, we do not provide it to Eurostat. The largest aggregate we provide to Eurostat is activity ''BTOE36'', which excludes SBIs 37-39. As such we have used this variable to calculate the revision data, and not ''industry'' as a whole.