Index of household consumption of goods, February 2006

After a large increase from December 2005 to January this year, the consumption of food, beverages and tobacco decreased by 0.7 percent from January to February. The consumption of beverages, both alcohol and non - alcohol, increased slightly, while the consumption of groceries decreased

The consumption bundle “other goods” decreased by 0.4 percent from the previous month, according to the seasonally adjusted figures. It was mainly low consumption of equipment related to telecommunications, and books and equipment for leisure that contributed to this reduction. It was also a slight decrease in the consumption of clothes, while the consumption of furniture and white goods increased slightly.

It appears to have been a substitution between the consumption of electricity and heating fuels in this period. The consumption of heating fuels increased by approximately 13 percent while the consumption of electricity decreased by approximately 1.5 percent. According to the seasonally adjusted figures these two goods level out in consumption, and all in all leave the consumption group “electricity and heating fuels” roughly unchanged from the previous month. The substitution in this consumption could be related to a strong increase in the price of electricity and a moderate increase in the price of heating fuels.

In February the consumption of cars increased by 1.9 percent while the consumption of fuel decreased slightly from January. The increase in consumption of cars must be seen in the light of low consumption of this good in the previous month.

The unadjusted volume index of commodity consumption was 1.5 percent higher in February 2006 than in February 2005. It is mainly consumption of “other goods” that contributes to this growth.

Method differs from the index of retail sale

The index of commodity consumption describes the development in household consumption of goods, while the index of retail sales measures the development in retail sales. As opposed to the index of retail sales, the index of commodity consumption includes goods that are not sold in retail trade. Thus, the calculation of the index of commodity consumption is based on information from the index of retail sales in addition to information on purchases of cars, sales of petrol and oil to petrol stations and the consumption of electricity unadjusted for changes in temperature. This may result in deviations in the development of the two indices.

The index of commodity consumption uses the same definitions and methods of compilation as the quarterly national accounts, and thus serves as an indicator of household consumption of goods in the quarterly national accounts.

Timeliness is important in the release of statistics, and the index of commodity consumption may therefore have to rely on preliminary estimates in some cases. Such estimates are replaced in the subsequent release. This applies, inter alia, to figures on electricity consumption, where short-term statistics from the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) are used. Later on these short-term statistics are replaced by electricity statistics from Statistics Norway. This implies that the index of commodity consumption normally will be revised in the subsequent publishing.