Raw Materials Price Index (RMPI)

Detailed information for July 2002

The Raw Materials Price Index (RMPI) measures price changes for raw materials purchased by industries in Canada for further processing.

Data release - August 29, 2002

• Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s)
• Description
• Data sources and methodology
• Data accuracy
• Documentation

Description

These indexes measure monthly price movements of specified raw materials purchased by Canadian industry. Indexes are published for seven material groups and two aggregations.

Subjects

• Industrial product price indexes
• Prices and price indexes

Data sources and methodology

Sampling

This is a sample survey.

Error detection

The last six months' data are subject to revision.

Quality evaluation

For seven major components of raw materials, identified mainly according to their nature, about 60 commodities were selected. Within each commodity, major producers or distributors in Canada were identified as potential respondents. Both domestic production and imports are covered. From each respondent, specifications of particular transactions are agreed on a particular physical product and the price quotes for new orders are collected on a questionnaire each month. If the specification or terms of sale should vary, an evaluation of the quality difference is made. The result is a time series of price levels relative to a base period for each specification. There are some exceptions to these procedures. In some cases, manufacturers' selling prices are used as proxies for purchase prices.

Disclosure control

Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any information it collects which could identify any person, business, or organization, unless consent has been given by the respondent or as permitted by the Statistics Act. Various confidentiality rules are applied to all data that are released or published to prevent the publication or disclosure of any information deemed confidential. If necessary, data are suppressed to prevent direct or residual disclosure of identifiable data.

Collected data are converted to price indexes and data are released as such, so that it is not possible to identify the suppliers of raw prices.

Data accuracy

Important late respondents are phoned. In some instances the most recent month's data are estimated.

Documentation

• Raw Materials Price Indexes - Data Quality Statements
  • Format: Raw Materials Price Indexes - Data Quality Statements - ARCHIVED - PDF, 128.61[ARCHIVED - PDF, 128.61 kb]