Export /Import Price Indices during February 2011
□ The Export Price Index (won basis) increased by 1.8% month-on-month in February 2011.
o The index rose by 5.6% in year-on-year terms.
□ The Import Price Index (won basis) also rose by 3.1% month-on-month in February.
o Year-on-year, it increased by 16.9%.
Rates of Change in Export/Import Price Indices
(%) Weight Month-on-month Year-on-year
‘10 Dec '11 Jan Feb ‘10 Dec '11 Jan Feb
All items 1000.0 3.1 -0.9 1.8 4.3 4.9 5.6
(1.5) (1.4) <1.9> (6.7) (6.9) <9.1>
Agricultural, Forest &
Marine Products 5.1 2.3 1.2 2.5 16.5 17.3 21.8
Manufacturing Industry Products 994.9 3.1 -1.0 1.8 4.2 4.9 5.5
All items 1000.0 4.7 0.0 3.1 12.7 14.1 16.9
(3.1) (2.3) <3.2> (14.5) (15.6) <20.5>
Raw Materials 278.2 6.7 2.0 5.7 20.9 24.2 32.7
Intermediate Goods 556.7 3.9 -1.0 1.8 10.5 10.8 11.2
Capital Goods 98.6 1.0 -1.7 -0.1 -1.1 0.0 -1.4
Consumer Goods 66.5 3.2 -2.1 -0.1 3.6 2.8 1.9
* Figures in parentheses represent changes (%) on a contract currency basis.
※ Further statistics may be found at the Bank of Korea's Economic Statistics System website (http://ecos.bok.or.kr/).
(Chart)
Export/Import Price Indices
1. Export PricesA. Index
B. Changes
2. Import Prices A. Index
B. Changes
Stage-of-Processing Price Index during February 2011
□ Prices of finished goods rose by 0.3% month-on-month in February 2011, and by 5.3% in year-on-year terms.
□ Prices of intermediate goods increased by 1.5% month-on-month in January, and by 9.8% in year-on-year terms.
□ Raw materials prices rose by 5.0% month-on-month, and by 30.2% in year-on-year terms.
Rate of Change in the Stage-of-Processing Price Index
(%) Weight
Month-on-month Year-on-year
Nov‘10 Dec Jan'11 Feb Nov‘10 Dec Jan'11 Feb
Finished goods 326.46 -0.4 1.3 1.4 0.3 3.8 4.7 5.7 5.3
Capital goods 88.53 -0.1 0.4 -0.4 0.1 -0.1 0.4 1.2 0.8
Consumption goods 237.93 -0.6 1.7 2.1 0.4 5.1 6.3 7.4 7.1 Intermediate goods 580.28 1.2 2.1 0.7 1.5 6.8 8.1 8.9 9.8
Raw materials 93.26 2.1 6.3 2.8 5.0 11.8 19.1 22.9 30.2
All items 1000.00 0.9 2.4 1.2 1.7 6.5 8.6 9.8 11.1
Stage-of-Processing Price Index
Changes in Stage-of-Processing Price Index
(Appendix 1)
How the Export/Import Price Indices are compiled
1. Definition and use
― The Export/Import Price Indices measure fluctuations in the prices of goods exported and imported. The indices are used to gauge the effects of price fluctuations of these export/import items on domestic prices and the changes in their costs.
2. Frequency
― At the beginning of each month, prices for the previous month are surveyed.
3. Prices surveyed
― Average monthly prices are surveyed in principle, based upon the points at which the export/import contracts are entered into, so that they may serve as leading indicators of domestic prices.
― Export prices are surveyed on an FOB basis, and import prices on CIF. For some items, however, trade practices are applied.
4. Items subject to survey
― Only items whose export/import amounts account for more than 1/2,000 of the country's trading volume; that are representative of the price movements of items grouped within similar industries; whose quality standards are uniformly maintained; and whose time series on prices are tenable, are surveyed. Since the 2005 revision, 211 items for exports and 234 for imports have met these requirements.
5. Method of compilation
― Classification
ㅇBasic classification: The industrial classification set out in the Korea Standard Industrial Classification (KSIC) is applied with necessary
modifications as the basic classification. This is further broken down into two sub-categories for exports--agricultural, forest & marine products and manufacturing industry products--and three for imports--agricultural, forest
& marine products, mining products and manufacturing industry products.
ㅇSpecialized classification: For user convenience, the indices are also
classified into foods/non-foods; energy/items other than energy; information technology/items other than IT; and foods & energy/items other than foods
& energy; as well as groupings by use, trade and industry type.
Category # of items Weight
Exports
All items 211 1000.0
Basic
Agricultural, forest &
marine products 5 5.1
Manufacturing industry
products 206 994.9
Imports
All items 234 1000.0
Basic
Agricultural, forest &
marine products 16 37.6
Mining products 10 248.0
Manufacturing industry
products 208 714.4
By use
Raw materials 26* 278.2
Intermediate goods 170* 556.7
Capital goods 27* 98.6
Consumer goods 54* 66.5
* As weights are allocated in proportion to the input ratios of the items by use, the total number of items under the 'By use' category is not identical to the number of items for the total index, i.e. 234.
― Weights
ㅇThe weights of individual items are expressed in permillage in accordance with their shares in the total transaction amount.
― Compilation
ㅇThe headline indices are compiled from Korean won-based indices, which are produced by converting the contract prices of exports/imports so that their impacts on domestic prices may be easily followed. Indices based on contract currencies and on US dollars are compiled as supplementary indices.
ㅇThe formula used to aggregate the indices is a modified Laspeyres formula which measures price changes weighted by transaction amounts at the base year. The base year is changed every five years, so as to increase the extent to which the Export/Import Price Indices reflect realities through
improvements in the selection of items to be surveyed and their weights, in line with changes in the trade structure.
6. Notes on statistical use
― The Export/Import Price Indices are compiled on three different bases: the Korean Won, the contract currencies and the US dollar. Users are hence advised to check the base currency first before using the indices for statistical purposes.
― The Export/Import Price Indices may show trends different from the
Export/Import Unit Value Indices, which measure the average unit prices of various export/import items of different qualities that were cleared through customs.
(Appendix 2)
How the Stage-of-Processing Price Index are compiled
1. Definition and use
― The stage-of-processing price index measures price movements of domestically supplied goods at the different stages of processing--raw
materials, intermediate goods and finished goods--in an attempt to grasp the evolutionary process of price fluctuations.
2. Method of compilation
― The index embraces all domestically supplied goods and is compiled by aggregating the items under 'goods' in the Producer Price Index and 'all items' of the Import Price Index.
o The weights assigned to domestic goods and imported goods are 719.81 and 280.19, respectively; imported goods account for 28% of the total.
o The weights of raw materials, intermediate goods and finished goods are 93.26, 580.28 and 326.46, respectively; intermediate goods, i.e. materials and
components, account for more than half of the total.
3. Notes on statistical use
― The stage-of-processing price index is compiled in major advanced countries including the U.S., Japan and Canada. Since separate indexes are calculated for raw materials, intermediate goods and finished goods, it is particularly useful for analyzing the evolutionary process of price fluctuations.
o The raw materials and intermediate goods indexes are used as ex-ante inflation indicators, and the finished goods index as an aggregate indicator for measuring inflation in the goods sectors.
- Particularly in the U.S., the finished goods index, whose coverage includes capital goods, is highlighted as one of the inflation-measuring indicators.
o In Korea, the finished goods index shows a trend similar to that of the
Consumer Price Index, but since it includes capital goods sectors and excludes service sectors, unlike the CPI, large fluctuations in capital goods or service prices may cause the finished goods index to show movements different from those of the CPI.
