Index of household consumption of goods, December 2002

The unadjusted volume index of commodity consumption was 2.9 per cent higher in December 2002 than in December 2001.

The index of commodity consumption aims at describing the development in the households' consumption of goods, while the index of retail sales is an index measuring the development in retail sales. The index of commodity consumption will from now on be published approximately two weeks prior to the normal date (according to the previous cycle). Since the index is calculated at an earlier point in time, Statistics Norway does not have access to all the information normally used. In these cases, preliminary estimates will be used, and subsequently replaced in the next publishing. This applies among others to consumption of electricity, where the Norwegian water resources and energy directorate's short-term statistics has been utilised.

Statistics Norway is currently making plans for a more elaborate publishing of the volume index of commodity consumption.

Method differs from the index of retail sale

As opposed to the index of retail sales, the index of commodity consumption also includes goods not sold in retail trade, it is based on sales in more industries and calculated with a weighting consistent with the share of the sales actually allocated to the households. This can result in deviations in the development of the two indices. The calculation of the index of commodity consumption is based on information from the index of retail sales. In addition, the index of commodity consumption uses information about purchases of cars, sales of petrol and oil to petrol stations and consumption of electricity unadjusted for changes in temperature.

The index of commodity consumption uses the same definitions and nearly the same methods of compilation as the Quarterly National Accounts. The index of commodity consumption is thus an indicator of household consumption of goods in the Quarterly National Accounts. The components of the index of commodity consumption are seasonally adjusted individually.