6 March 2012

Embargoed 11.30am (Canberra time)

27/2012

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today announced the outcome from a comprehensive review of the Australian Producer Price Indexes (PPIs) and International Trade Price Indexes (ITPIs), which was conducted from mid 2011.

The issues considered in the review of the PPIs and ITPIs were set out in the Information Paper: Review of the Producer and International Trade Price Indexes, 2011 (cat. no. 6427.0.55.003), released on 2 September 2011.

The ABS sought the views of interested parties in both written and oral submissions during the course of the review. The ABS is grateful to those who participated in the consultation processes.

As a result of the review, the ABS will implement some of the outcomes commencing with the release of the September quarter 2012 PPI and ITPI releases. An additional information paper will be published in September 2012, providing details such as the weighting patterns for the PPIs that will be adopted and finalising new series.

Key outcomes from the review include:

• The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has determined that the principal purpose of the PPIs and ITPIs is to measure inflation by industry to support the compilation of the National Accounts and Balance of Payments;
• The basis of the PPIs will change from measuring products primary to an industry, to measuring the inputs and outputs of an industry;
• The weights of the PPIs will be updated to maintain their relevance;
• The coverage of the PPIs and ITPIs will increase to cover more of the Australian economy;
• The Stage of Production indexes will be retained and the industry classification and weights updated to maintain their relevance;
• The timing of the PPI and ITPI publication releases will be delayed by nine working days, to improve pricing coverage across the quarter; and
• The ABS will continue to focus on high quality, quarterly PPIs and ITPIs, rather than releasing these series on a monthly basis.

Some outcomes are dependent on the implementation of a new computer system which is expected in mid 2014, which will allow:

• The revision of the PPIs and the ITPIs; and
• The coverage of the PPIs to include non-market price indexes.

Further outcomes are detailed in the Information Paper: Outcome of the Review of the Producer and International Trade Price Indexes, 2012 (cat. no. 6427.0.55.004).