ISTAT - Istituto Nazionale di Statistica
Euro-SDMX Metadata Structure Definition (ESMS_MSD 3.0 ESTAT)
Import prices in industry
2020 - A0
1. Contact
1.1 Contact organisation
National Institute of Statistics (Istat)
1.2 Contact organisation unit

Directorate for Business Statistics (DCSE)

Division for Statistics on Production and Foreign Trade (SEB
1.3 Contact name
Emiliano Sibio
1.4 Contact person function
Survey manager
1.5 Contact mail address
Via Tuscolana, 1788 00173 Rome Italy
1.6 Contact email address
sibio@istat.it
1.7 Contact phone number
Process manager telephone: +390646736028
1.8 Contact fax number
2. Metadata update
2.1 Metadata last certified
2.2 Metadata last posted
2.3 Metadata last update
3. Statistical presentation
3.1 Data description
Prezzi all'importazione (Industrial import prices index- MPI)
Industrial import prices index (A340 - IMPR) is compiled according to the Euro/non-Euro breakdown:
  • Import price Euro area (A340z - IMPZ )
  • Import price non-Euro area (A340x - IMPX)
 The industrial import price index is a monthly short-term indicator used for the business cycle analysis.
The industrial import price index measures changes of 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 (2015)
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 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 euro zone and non-euro zone
3.5 Statistical unit
Industrial and commercial enterprises. The observation unit are 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 are disseminated 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
3.9 Base period
The base period is the year 2015
4. Unit of measure
Indices
5. Reference Period
Month
6. Institutional Mandate
6.1 Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements

Legal basis at national and European level.

National level: This is one of the compulsory surveys fixed every year by a Decree of the President of the Republic (D.P.R.)

European level: 

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
Council Regulation No 1165/1998 Council Regulation No 1165/1998 of 19 May 1998 Introducing short- term statistics at European level; 
Regulation (EC) of the European Parliament and of the Council 1158/2005 (Council Regulation No1158/2005) amending Regulation 1165/98 introducing the European sample schemes, industrial import prices, output prices for services and other changes.
Commission Regulation 1503/2006 (Commission Regulation 1503/2006) defining variables and frequency of data compilation, repealing new orders received for building construction and new orders received for civil engineering
Commission Regulation 656/2007 (Commission Regulation 656/2007) on the definition of main industrial groupings (MIGS) in NACE Rev. 2. 
Commission Regulation 657/2007 (Commission Regulation 657/2007) implementing rules for the use of European sample schemes in STS 
Commission Regulation 472/2008(Commission Regulation 472/2008) introducing the new base year 2005 and the statistical classification of economic activities, NACE Rev. 2, into short-term statistics.
Commission Regulation 1178/2008 (Commission Regulation 1178/2008) introducing further adaptations for European sample schemes in relation to the new economic classification. 
Commission Regulation 461/2012 repealing industrial new orders  

Obligation on units to provide data: Surveys are 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
None
7. Confidentiality
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) provide special rules concerning the processing of personal data for statistical purposes within the National Statistical System (Sistan). Further, in order to make statistical confidentiality and protection of personal data effective, Istat is currently taking appropriate organisational, logistical, methodological and statistical measures in accordance with internationally established standards.
Links to relevant legal acts on statistics are also listed on the website of Sistan (https://www.sistan.it/)
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) provide special rules concerning the processing of personal data for statistical purposes within the National Statistical System (Sistan). Further, in order to make statistical confidentiality and protection of personal data effective, Istat is currently taking appropriate organisational, logistical, methodological and statistical measures in accordance with internationally established standards.
Links to relevant legal acts on statistics are also listed on the website of Sistan (https://www.sistan.it/)
7.2 Confidentiality - data treatment
Survey elementary data are treated as confidential. Aggregated data are disseminated in I.Stat
Some variables can be transmitted to Eurostat as confidential when they are not disseminated in Italy
8. Release policy
8.1 Release calendar
Every year in December Istat send to Eurostat a transmission calendar providing precise dates for the coming year. Since January 2016 data (first issue in March 2016), import price index are released in a merged press release, import price and external trade
8.2 Release calendar access
The release calendar is disseminated on ISTAT's website Istat - Release Calendar

8.3 Release policy - user access
Indices are published simultaneously to all interested parties at Istat homepage, previous releases are accessible in the archive Prices/Archive
No one has pre-release access to the statistics.
Eurostat receive 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.
9. Frequency of dissemination
Monthly
10. Accessibility and clarity
10.1 Dissemination format - News release

Since December 2013 there is 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

Prices/archive
10.2 Dissemination format - Publications
Indices are published in the “Annuario Statistico Italiano” (ASI) -Italian Statistical Yearbook – Chapter 16 Annuario Statistico Italiano/Prezzi
10.3 Dissemination format - online database
Data are disseminated in I.Stat, database theme “Prices”, dataset “Import prices –Monthly data” -(base 2015).The on- line database I.Stat is open and free, statistics are organised by theme in a two-level hierarchical tree. Data are presented in aggregate form in multidimensional tables; acting on variables, reference periods and the arrangement of heads and sides users can create custom tables and graphs. Datasets can be searched by keyword, theme and region. A wide range of standard metadata facilitates the retrieval and understanding of statistics by users.
More information available in the User Guide User Guide 
10.4 Dissemination format - microdata access
None
10.5 Dissemination format - other
Data are sent to Eurostat and also to the National Central Bank (Banca d’Italia). This index is also one of the 'Principal European Economic Indicators (PEEIs) ttps://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/euro-indicators
10.6 Documentation on methodology

Methodology is in the framework of short-term business statistics. A short methodological and survey’s characteristics is contained in the last section of the press release updated regularly
10.7 Quality management - documentation
More information about procedures applied for quality management and quality assessment in the document "Quality Guidelines For Statistical Processes" - December 2012 Quality Guidelines
11. Quality management
11.1 Quality assurance

More information about procedures applied for quality management and quality assessment in the document "Quality Guidelines For Statistical Processes" - December 2012 Quality Guidelines 

11.2 Quality management - assessment
Not available
12. Relevance
12.1 Relevance - User Needs
Main users of 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. Accuracy
13.1 Accuracy - overall
Not available
13.2 Sampling error
Sampling error has not been estimated.
13.3 Non-sampling error
The response rate of first estimate is about 93%
The response rate of definitive estimate is about 94%
Reminders are sent to non-respondents and follow-up operation are carried out
14. Timeliness and punctuality
14.1 Timeliness
The deadline for the data transmission is 45 days after the end of the reference period
14.2 Punctuality
All releases delivered according to the timetable.
15. Coherence and comparability
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
Not available
16. Cost and Burden

The cost estimate is compiled in terms of total number of hours worked (THW). It 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




The burden estimate is compiled in terms of total number of minutes (TNM) taken to fill in the (web) questionnaire. The burden is applied to 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 former distinguishes between beginner and expert respondent, 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 latter, closely concerns the information that have to be monthly  provided. On average, by combining these two elements, the time spent to fill in the questionnaire (just the burden) is estimated in terms of total number of minutes between a minimum and a maximum threshold

Type of Respondent

Burden estimate (TNM)

Beginner

10 min. ≤ burden ≤ 20 min.

Expert

5 min. ≤ burden ≤ 10 min.
17. Data revision
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
At present time, Import price indices are not revised and seasonal adjusted. Data are firstly 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 to increase the response rate.
The Mean Absolute Revision (MAR), Mean Revision (MR) and RMAR (Relative Mean Absolute Revision) are compiled for totals (and MIGs breakdown). 
These indicators refer to 36 monthly data from 2018 to 2020; indices are released in the reference base 2015=100. The indicators refer to the Domestic market.
 

Main Industrial Groupings (MIG)

RMA

RMAR

RM

Consumer goods

0,019444

0,000005

0,002778

Durable

0,038889

0,000011

-0,011111

Non- durable

0,013889

0,000004

0,002778

Capital goods

0,180556

0,000049

0,047222

Intermediate goods

0,033333

0,000009

-0,005556

Energy

0,258333

0,000071

0,119444

Total

0,069444

 

0,000019

 

0,025000

 
18. Statistical processing
18.1 Source data
Data are collected through a statistical survey. The Foreign Trade statistics are used as 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 a sufficient coverage in terms of import values. The sample of products and the list of enterprises are updated every five years.
18.2 Frequency of data collection
Monthly
18.3 Data collection
Self-administered data collection via electronic transmission (on-line survey), data are collected through a web portal called Portale Imprese https://imprese.istat.it/
Respondents need to login for insert data in the web questionnaire
18.4 Data validation
Not available
18.5 Data compilation
Import prices are a system of Laspeyres fixed type indices. Indices are compiled by steps:
  1. firstly, by calculating price relatives, i.e. the ratios between the surveyed price at time t and the average price at time t=0;
  2. price relatives are aggregated by simple geometric mean in order to calculate the elementary product index; 
  3. calculation of the Laspeyres indices starting from the Class level (4 digit of the NACE Rev. 2) up to the overall index, by grouping elementary product indices
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 national level. The index weighting system is derived from the international trade statistics. There are two weighting systems depending upon 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 in the Eurostat website. Seasonally adjusted indices are planned to be added to the raw indices . Computation of chained-indices is planned. 

 

18.6 Adjustment
Working day or seasonal adjustments are not performed
19. Comment
None