CHAPTER 4: THE NEW EXPERIMENTAL RTPI
4.1 This chapter outlines the publication strategy for the PPIs for the output of the retail trade industry.
INDEXES PRODUCED TO SUPPORT THE PURPOSE AND USES OF A RTPI
4.2 The ABS has initially limited data collection to 27 SUPCs out of a total of 119 SUPCs corresponding with the National Accounts S–U tables. However, the retail trade margins represented by these 27 SUPCs account for approximately two–thirds of total retail trade margins across the ANZSIC06 Retail Trade industry.
4.3 Total sales and cost of goods sold are collected for the SUPCs listed below in Table 4.1. For confidentiality reasons it may not be possible to publish all RTPIs by individual SUPCs. Where confidentiality concerns exist, related product groups will be aggregated using retail trade margin shares from unpublished S–U tables as weights to form groups of selected product groups for publication.
TABLE 4.1 – Product Groups included in Retail Trade Margins Survey
Selected Product Group | SUPC codes | Description |
A. Clothing, footwear and textiles | 13070 | Clothing (excl knitted or crocheted) |
| 13075 | Footwear |
| 13040 | Textile products nec |
| 13010 | Textile fabrics, yarns, threads and fibres |
B. Selected foods and alcohol | 01035 | Fruits, nuts and vegetables |
| 11005 | Edible meat, offal and meat products |
| 12010 | Alcoholic beverages (not bought and consumed on licensed premises) |
| 11055 | Bakery products |
| 11025 | Dairy products |
C. Furniture | 25005 | Furniture (excl plastic) |
D. Motor vehicles, parts and tyres | 23005 | Motor cars |
| 19015 | Pneumatic tyres (motor car and motor cycles) and tubes |
| 23060 | Motor vehicle parts (excl engines and panels) and accessories |
| 23015 | Second hand motor vehicles |
E. Telecommunications, computers, audio visual equipment and photographic goods | 24030 | Telecommunication and audio visual equipment |
| 24050 | Household appliances |
| 24025 | Computers |
| 24005 | Photographic goods (incl optical fibres) and ophthalmic equipment (excl spectacles) |
F. Automotive fuel products | 17005 | Liquefied petroleum gas produced at refineries |
| 17015 | Automotive petroleum and coal products |
G. Watches and jewellery | 25025 | Jewellery and silverware |
| 24015 | Watches (incl metal watch straps), watch cases, clocks and parts |
H. Other | 54005 | Newspaper, magazine and book publishing |
| 25010 | Toys and sporting equipment and parts |
| 12015 | Tobacco products |
| 16005 | Printing |
| 55020 | Music publishing; music and other sound recording activities |
PUBLICATION SCHEDULE FOR RTPI
4.4 PPIs for the output of the retail trade industry cannot be compiled with the same timeliness as the other PPIs
(Endnote 23). The basic data required for the construction of the PPIs for output of the retail trade industry are quarterly sales and cost of goods sold. These economic flow data cannot be collected until some time after the end of the reference quarter. By comparison, price indexes for goods and some services are based on point in time prices prevailing at selected dates during the quarter. Further, calculation of the RTPIs requires the latest period CPI data to be available for price updating purposes.
4.5 Because of these constraints, the ABS will publish RTPIs as stand–alone indexes. This will occur until the necessary systems and processes are in place to enable RTPIs to be incorporated into the SOP framework. The implementation of RTPIs in the SOP indexes will be communicated ahead of time in the publication
Producer Price Indexes, Australia (cat.no. 6427.0).
4.6 The ABS will:
i. Publish quarterly PPIs for the Output of the Retail Trade Industry (RTPIs) as standalone indexes in the period following the release of the
Producer Price Index, Australia publication (ABS cat. no.6427.0) and prior to the quarterly
National Accounts (ABS cat.no. 5206.0). The RTPIs will be released on the ABS website in electronic format only. The indexes will be available as an additional data cube under the
PPI publication (ABS cat. no. 6427.0) approximately 3 weeks after the date of the initial release. The ABS will advise users of the additional data in the ‘changes to this issue’ section of the PPI publication
,
ii. Subject to further review, retain the experimental label on RTPIs.
4.7 The RTPIs to be produced and their availability to users are listed below in Table 4.2.
TABLE 4.2 Producer Price Indexes for the Output of the Retail Trade Industry (RTPIs)
Index | Availability | Comments |
National total RTPI (index number and annual/quarterly % change). | 2003 onwards | Index linked to original series per Table 3 in 6402.0. |
National aggregation of products represented by selected SUPC s– total RTPI (index number and annual/quarterly % change). | 2008 onwards | Outputs available subject to confidentiality. |
State/territory total RTPI (index number and annual/quarterly % change). | 2008 onwards | Outputs available subject to confidentiality. |
National SUPC level – total RTPI (index number and annual/quarterly % change). | Internal use only -
for use in the compilation
of the National Accounts. | Outputs unlikely to be available external to ABS due to confidentiality constraints. |
State/territory SUPC level – total RTPI (index number and annual/quarterly % change). | Internal use only -
for use in the compilation
of the National Accounts. | Outputs unlikely to be available external to ABS due to confidentiality constraints. |
ENDNOTES
23. The ABS has delayed the release of the PPI publication by nine working days from the September quarter 2012. However, even with this delay, the RTMPI cannot be compiled in time to meet the PPI (SOP) publication deadline. Note – this delay to the PPIs was announced on the 6th March 2012 as part of the Information Paper: Outcome of the Review of the Producer and International Trade Price Indexes, 2012 (cat. no. 6427.0.55.004)