Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques (French NSI).

Direction des Statistiques d’Entreprises \ Département des Statistiques de Court Terme \ Division des Indices de Prix à la Production.

(Directorate of Business Statistics \ Department of Short Term Statistics \ Division of Producer Price Indices).

INSEE

Division IPP - timbre E310

88 avenue Verdier

CS 70058

92541 Montrouge cedex

France

Name of indicator/source: Services Producer Price Indices, which are output price indices for the service production of resident producers, are collected mainly from the survey "Observation of Prices in Industry and SErvices" (Opise), for BtoB, BtoC and BtoE (exports) indicators, combined with Consumer Price Indices for coverage of BtoC indicators, in order to get BtoAll output price indices.

Firms are classified according to the NACE rev.2 (European Community Classification of Activities, Revision 2),

Products are classified according to the CPA rev. 2.1 (Classification of Products by Activity) at 4-digit level (classes of activities\ products)

Activities covered:

The global coverage in terms of activity corresponds to the field covered by the services producer price indices which includes the whole sections H, I, J, L, M and N of the CPA revision 2 of 2008 (namely market services which are neither commercial nor financial) except for the following products (not requested by the EBS regulation):

M70.1 Services of head offices

M72   Scientific research and development services

M75   Veterinary services

The industries in the scope of SPPI but not cvered are imputed by other price indicators (other markets or other services), therefore they are always accounted for.

Coverage rate:

The Opise survey covers 92.5% of the field in value for the services sold to French businesses, 96.9% for the services sold to households in France, 86.3% for exported services and 92.9% for the services sold on all markets. The consumer price indices, fiscally corrected, contribute sustantially to the producer price index of services sold to households in France.

In principle, only series whose response rate to the OPISE survey or Consumer Price Indices exceed 50% are disseminated.

List and definition of variables:

Service Producer prices include discounts and exclude VAT (and transport costs for some special activities like publishing), where possible. They are consistent with output of firms by products, in the sense of National Accounts (hence, output can be "net" instead of "gross" turnover).
Three price indicators are collected: BtoB, BtoC and BtoE (BtoE is broken down between euro zone and non euro zone). The price indicator BtoAll is calculated by “horizontal” aggregation (BtoAll = BtoB + BtoC + BtoE).
There are two kinds of BtoB price indicators disseminated: at basic prices and including intra-group transactions on one side, at market prices (including taxes and excluding subsidies on products) excluding intra-group transactions on the other side. This second notion is mainly released for contract escalation.
Field surveyors regularly contact firms to define the elementary products to be included in the basket. The selected products are representative of the price evolution of a product family (kind of product crossed with kind of market). In practice, they are most often products with the biggest turnover within each family. Discounts are included. Insee aims to obtain a price close to the real price of transaction.

Planned changes in information collected: None.

Accounting conventions: Full consistency with National Accounts, for instance for scope of exports (BtoE) in freight transport services, or for "net" concepts of output.

Reporting unit: Firms. Sometimes several departments of a single firm (according to their organization) or a head office of a group for all of its affiliates.

Observation unit(s): Class of transactions sold by selected firms.

The statistical population is defined by Structural Business Statistics in services: 2.0 million legal units for sections H to J, L to M and division 95 for 2022, with a turnover of 1,3 billion euros.

The survey covers French economic territory, including Corsica and overseas departments (Guadeloupe, French Guyana, Martinique, Mayotte and Réunion). On the contrary, overseas territories (New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Wallis and Futuna) are out of scope.

Date of first use as a source: The survey was first used in the mid 1990’s for some services sold to businesses (security, cleaning). The extended coverage of sections H to N (plus division S95) and the full production of indicators BtoB, BtoC and BtoE, then BtoAll, has been achieved simultaneously with new base 2010, for dissemination in May 2013.

It is necessary to distinguish two different levels of aggregation: aggregation of representative transactions to four-digit CPF rev.2.1 levels and aggregation of CPF rev.2.1 levels to a higher CPF rev.2.1 level. These two levels of aggregation are called respectively basic aggregations and higher aggregations.

For basic aggregations, weights correspond to turnover of the year preceding the field officer's contact.

For higher aggregations, indices are chain-linked. Weights used for compiling year Y indices stem from year Y-2 national accounts when Y>=2012, and from Y-1 national accounts when 2006<=Y<=2011. Before 2006, weights correspond to 2005 national accounts. The reference of services production price indices released from May 2024 will be labelled "base 2021".

Indices (reference 100 in 2021) on prices expressed in euros.

SPPI are quarterly

Legal basis:  The SPPI part of the French Opise survey is intended to observe the European Business Statistics (EBS) Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 on 27 November 2019, followed by the Commission Implementing Regulation 2020/1197.

Since base 2010 implemented in 2013, INSEE has anticipated the Fribs-package of Eurostat and the subsequent EBS regulation, with an important expansion of the scope and double dissemination of BtoB and BtoAll indicators.

A yearly visa from the Minister of Economics is granted to the Opise survey, according to the 1951 law about statistics (2024 visa: 2024M002EC). It also covers industrial PPI (domestic and foreign markets), industrial import prices, and buildings’ maintenance and improvement work price index (~ division 43).

Obligation on units to provide data: The survey is compulsory. Non-respondents are sometimes fined.

Planned changes in legal basis, obligation to respond and frame used: None.

Some data are provided by the Ministry in charge of transport (issued by IATA for air freight transport).

Experiments are planned to use microdata managed by the Ministry in charge of transport for prices of air passenger transport.

The data is shared with Eurostat, following the EBS regulation.

Dissemination of terms and conditions under which official statistics are produced, including confidentiality of individual responses:

The producer service price indices are regulated by the 1951 law about statistics.
Every surveyed firm is provided with information about statistical confidentiality.

Confidential data are not published. That happens in two cases: either there are less than three units to produce the index or one single unit represents more than 85% of the turnover in the product family.

Advance dissemination of release calendar: Services Producer price index are published around T+60 (last working day of the second month after the end of the quarter).

A monthly calendar is produced for the four following months. It can be found on the INSEE website: https://www.insee.fr/en/information/2107811?debut=0.

Indices disseminated on Insee website and data transmitted to Eurostat are strictly identical.

Data are transmitted to Eurostat the day before the national release (under "embargo"). The transmission to Eurostat is made using the SDMX format.

Government has no access to data under embargo.

Quarterly, at T+60.

A 5-page "Informations Rapides" is published on the INSEE website.

National paper publications: No longer available.

National electronic dissemination: "Informations Rapides": "Services producer price indices"

both in French: https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques?debut=0&theme=30&conjoncture=58.

and in English: https://www.insee.fr/en/statistiques?debut=0&theme=30&conjoncture=58

BtoB price series for basic prices and for contract escalation, BtoC, BtoE and BtoAll price series can be accessed on:

In base 2010: https://www.insee.fr/en/statistiques/series/102797474

In base 2015: https://www.insee.fr/en/statistiques/series/110182815

In base 2021: https://www.insee.fr/en/statistiques/series/117384665

Researchers can request microdata access, but they have to come on site, with a special procedure.

Data are also available on https://www.insee.fr/en/information/2512785.

Data are sent to Eurostat the day before the national release.

Dissemination of documentation on methodology and sources used in preparing statistics

Some methodology can be accessed at: https://www.insee.fr/en/metadonnees/source/s1134.

The complete and detailed methodology is also available on : Producer Price Indices | Insee

Description of standard tables produced

Quarterly output price index (2021=100) at the 4-digit CPA level and above, sometimes below, for indicators BtoB (at basic and at market prices), BtoE and BtoAll, sometimes BtoC when not covered and disseminated with CPI.

A "quality file" for year 2014 is available in French on the Insee website:

https://www.insee.fr/fr/metadonnees/source/indicateur/p1640/gestion-qualite

The European statistics code of practice is applied as far as possible. In particular, selective editing is implemented in accordance with the EDIMBUS manual.

The main quality problems are linked to one-off products, misunderstandings between firms and Insee about some elementary price series and non-response.

The DQAF of French PPI (both industrial PPI and services PPI) can be found on the IMF framework:

http://dsbb.imf.org/pages/sdds/DQAFBase.aspx?ctycode=FRA&catcode=PPI00.

These indices enable:

- Economists to evaluate and analyze economic trends;

- National accountants to deflate production that comes from structural business statistics and as such to carry out the breakdown between development of the activity in volume (quantity, quality, structure effect) and development of prices (« price-volume split»). They can then track the evolution of Gross Domestic Product and NA aggregates in volume;

- Businesses and local collectivities to index contracts;

- International organisations such as Eurostat to compare economic statistics of Member States.

Very few complaints are expressed about some SPPI series by firms that use them for contract indexation. Our revision policy allows us to satisfy them generally the following quarter.

The BtoB scope is covered at 92.5%, BtoC (combined with CPI) at 96.9%, BtoE at 86.3% and BtoAll at 92.9%.

The main sources of error are the following ones:

- Non probability-sampling error (a "cut-off" technique is used for most industries );

- Aggregation of indices based on too few representative products;

- Misunderstandings concerning price questionnaires;

- Non-response;

- Errors in data processing;

- Handling of quality changes in products;

- Handling of new products entering and old one exiting from the market;

- Measurement difficulties in unique/one-off products;

- Uncertainty of imputation models.

The indices are provisional for three quarters. Every quarter, the revision of previous quarter data is published for total services and BtoB, BtoC, BtoE and BtoAll indicators.  

There is no sampling error strictly speaking as France uses a cut-off technique to select firms, except for 7 CPF4 service industries.

In each covered CPF4 product family, main firms are surveyed. It could be a source of bias. Nevertheless, if main firms are price-makers, and others are price-takers, the bias should be small.

Possible multiple representative products are identified when field surveyors contact firms. Professional unions are questioned by Insee about under-coverage and over-coverage, so that both are limited when an activity is "refreshed". As time goes by, under-coverage may grow: new firms are created and they are not surveyed, new products are sold, and they are seldom surveyed (firms are able to "change products"', but they don't do it frequently).

The list of representative services are discussed between firms and field surveyors: this helps improve the response rate and the quality of the survey. Then, firms fill prices every quarter, on an Internet (or paper) form. If necessary, field surveyors may contact the firm long after the initial choice of transactions.

The main reasons for non-response are: representative transactions imperfectly defined, no sale during the period under review, difficulties to estimate prices because of an unsuitable information system, change of contact inside firms, momentary "omission". Non-responses are estimated through close groups of products, so as to limit their impact on aggregates.

The weighted response rate is approximately 91% for 2023. Some actions to increase the rate of response have been implemented. Web-based data collection offers a quicker response time and is favoured. Approximately 96% of survey responses were sent by Internet in 2023.

Data editing focus on price changes that have greatest impact on aggregates. Consequently, other errors may not be seen.

No specific models are used.

Timeliness: Indices are released near the 30th of the second month following the reference quarter. They are provisional for three quarters.

Timetable of data collection: Questionnaires for quarter Q prices are sent at the end of Quarter Q. The response is to be made before the 15th of the first month of Q+1. For internet respondents, if they do not complete the questionnaire, they can receive up to two reminder e-mails. The first is around the 15 of the first month of Q+1. If they still do not answer, the second is sent to them around the 25 of the first month of Q+1. For paper respondents, only one follow-up letter is sent around the 20 of the first month of Q+1. If necessary, a follow-up call can be made until the deadline (around the 20 of the second month of Q+1).

French release dates have always been respected, around T+60 since August 2013.

Overseas departments are included in French economic territory, whereas overseas territories are excluded.

SPPI in reference 2010, 2015 and 2021 have been aggregated and chain-linked since first quarter 2005 (with the help of large imputations in past years).

Dissemination of information that support statistical cross-checks and provide assurance of reasonableness: Not available.

Confrontation with other data sets:

SPPI are used to compile quarterly and yearly national accounts, and service production in volume.

For yearly national accounts, "implicit SPPI" (that is to say the ratio production in value / production in volume) may differ from yearly SPPI when uses and supply balance requires to do so.

No discrepancies between aggregates and sub-aggregates have been observed.

The cost for Insee is about 5.5 Full Time Equivalent of category A statisticians, 11 Full Time Equivalent of category B civil servants (price managers) and 6 field surveyors.

The burden for the respondents is estimated at 15 minutes in average per questionnaire

The policy of revision is strictly identical for both national release and data transmitted to Eurostat.

The revisions are announced at the time of change (an ‘r’ near the index shows that it has been modified since the previous release).

Scheduled revisions

Indices are released near the 30th of the second month following the reference quarter (T+60).

Firms are still able to change their price for the reference quarter for three quarters.

The indices also may be revised when CPF4 weights are updated (usually in July, so that indices for Q1 may be revised with the August publication).

Non-scheduled revisions

Afterwards, indices are only revised if a big mistake is discovered. Then, a specific note is published on website: https://www.insee.fr/en/information/2886952 (or in French:

https://www.insee.fr/fr/information/2862832), commenting the reason why and the impact.

Our press release provides the revision brought to the aggregates' price changes for the previous quarter.

Figure : revisions between Q4 2021 and Q3 2023

Type of source: Statistical survey.

Frame on which the source is based: The annual survey of firms (SBS) is used, along with the business register identification system (Sirene)

Sample or census: A two-stage sample is drawn: the first stage selects firms, the second one chooses transactions representative of the output of firms (with a contact between field surveyors and firms).

Criteria for stratification: The biggest firms are selected until at least 70% of the commodity-class total turnover is covered. Units that do not fall within these criteria might be selected to obtain a better coverage of a particular product family, especially when previously selected units appear to be misclassified. The choice of representative services is made by field officers when they contact the sampled units, in agreement with the contact person inside the firm.

Threshold values and percentages: Firms whose turnover in the service industry is below 4 million euros are excluded. 2,200 firms are surveyed for SPPI (and 900 for buildings’ maintenance and improvement work price index).

Frequency of updating the sample: Every 5 years, for each class of CPA (4-digit).

Quarterly, sometimes annually (especially when the service is not repeatedly sold every quarter, or in case of tariffs with annual updates, or for firms subject to a heavy burden such as a pricing model).

Questionnaires used in the survey: The questionnaire is specific to the firm, but is built with a unique form for the whole sample (including import prices and SPPI). The questionnaire is pre-filled with the information previously received from the field surveyors and the prices communicated by firms themselves for previous periods. Available both on paper and on INSEE’s website via a single entry point for business surveys (https://auth.insee.net/auth/realms/questionnaire-entreprises/protocol/openid-connect/auth?response_type=code&client_id=coltrane-portail&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fentreprises.stat-publique.fr%2Fportail%2F&state=18d74d3a-065a-41e4-82df-57a0b667a19f&login=true&scope=openid)

Planned changes in national questionnaires: None.

Data collection media:

Both postal and electronic data collection are available.

Respondents are given access to the website  entreprises.stat-publique.fr (https://auth.insee.net/auth/realms/questionnaire-entreprises/protocol/openid-connect/auth?response_type=code&client_id=coltrane-portail&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fentreprises.stat-publique.fr%2Fportail%2F&state=18d74d3a-065a-41e4-82df-57a0b667a19f&login=true&scope=openid)

Planned changes in data collection methodology: None.

Selective editing is applied in line with EDIMBUS manual, and a "Canadian questionnaire" is implemented online in order to collect reasons for price changes higher than 10% in absolute value.

Estimates for non-response:

Many techniques are used, depending on the context:

— Imputation of the average price change in the series (mainly);
— Prices kept constant;
— Imputation of the average price change for the same respondent;
— Selection of another product from the same respondent;
— Selection of a similar product from another respondent.

When a product disappears, the firm is contacted in order to supply data for a new one.

Estimates for grossing-up to population levels: None.

Type of index: Chain-linked Laspeyres indices in reference 100 in 2021 (annual average), from CPA 4-digit upwards.

Planned changes in production methods: None.

WDA, SA and other calculations:

Gross data only. Data are neither working days adjusted nor seasonally adjusted.

More information can be found on:

https://www.insee.fr/en/metadonnees/source/indicateur/p1640/description

The complete and detailed methodology is also available on : Producer Price Indices | Insee