Home > Statistics > Japan Statistical Yearbook > Chapter 17 Prices > Explanations
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This chapter covers prices of goods, services and land.
The section of price indices contains domestic corporate prices, export and import prices, agricultural prices, consumer prices, etc. Data are mainly derived from "Price Indices Quarterly", as well as statistics on the website, compiled by the Bank of Japan, "Statistics of Agricultural Prices" by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, "Annual Report on the Consumer Price Index", "National Survey of Prices" by the Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, and "Urban Land Price Index and National Wooden House Market Value Index" by the Japan Real Estate Institute.
The section of prices contains retail prices and land prices. Sources of data for prices are "Annual Report on the Retail Price Survey" by the Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications; and for land prices, "Land Price Survey by Prefectures" by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.
The Corporate Goods Price Index, which is compiled monthly by the Bank of Japan, is focused on the prices of goods which are traded among corporations. It is intended to provide important materials for macroeconomic analysis by checking trading prices, which sensitively reflect the supply and demand conditions of commodities.
The Corporate Goods Price Index has succeeded the Wholesale Price Index that was compiled until December 2002. When the base year was shifted to 2000 (results of which are released beginning December 2002), the name of the index was changed to the present one. At the same time, the pricing items were reviewed and the weights are revised using the results of 2000.
The Corporate Goods Price Index consists of three indices: the Domestic Corporate Goods Price Index, the Export Price Index and the Import Price Index. These indices are calculated, firstly, by transforming price of individual goods into indices, and secondly, by consolidating them into a single index by the "Laspeyres method with a fixed base", which means to add up the indices using corresponding weights at the base year 2005. Since they are the nucleus of the Corporate Goods Price Index, they are called as basic indices. In addition, reference indices are calculated for analytical purposes by rearranging and adjusting the basic indices.
The index reflects prices of corporate goods that are produced domestically for domestic consumption at the stage of producers or wholesalers. The domestic shipments, which are used for the determination of weights, are estimated by subtracting the amount of exports in 2005, which is given in the "Trade Statistics of Japan" by the Ministry of Finance, from the amount of producer's shipment in 2005, which is given in the "Census of Manufacture (Report by Commodity) " by Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. For items that are not included in those statistics such as non-manufacturing goods, data are taken from other statistics.
The Export Price Index is based, as a principle, on the FOB (free on board) prices, that is the prices at the time of shipping off the export goods from Japan, and the Import Price Index is based, as a principle, on the CIF (cost, insurance and freight) prices. The index is computed both on the yen basis and the contract currency basis. The weights are derived from the export and import data given by "Trade Statistics of Japan" for 2005. Further, the export and import price indices are computed using the prices before the consumption tax is applied.
The Index by Stage of Demand and Use is focused on price fluctuations at various stages of demand and uses of goods in the process of economic circulations. It is aimed at analyzing price fluctuations from various aspects such as the analysis of ripple effects of price changes. It is computed by recombining the Domestic Corporate Goods Price Index, the Export Price Index and the Import Price Index.
This index measures the change in prices of services traded among companies. This index is used to grasp the conditions of supply and demand of services by summarizing the prices of services traded among companies, and to provide basic information for analyzing business trend and for the decision of monetary policy. The index is compiled monthly by the Bank of Japan based on the Laspeyres-type formula with fixed weights and including consumption tax. The base year for the present index is 2005, and the number of service items to be priced is 137.
The index is composed of a pair of input index and output index. The former indicate the price movement of raw materials, fuels and energy, and services consumed in current productive activity by each sector of manufactures, while the latter, the price movement of manufactured goods produced by each sector. They were first computed in 1963 by the Bank of Japan as supplementary indices to the Wholesale Price Index. The base year for the present indices is 2005, and the indices are computed by Laspeyres-type formula. The total number of selected commodities amounts to 1,317 for the Input Price Index and 1,283 for the Output Price Index. Price data for these commodities are taken from those of the Corporate Goods Price Index and the Corporate Service Price Index. Both the Input Price Index and the Output Price Index exclude the consumption tax.
Index Numbers of Commodity Prices in Agriculture is prepared every month by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in order to measure the price movement in agricultural inputs and outputs. The base year of the current index is 2005, and the index is computed by Laspeyres-type formula.
The weights used for the computation of the indices are derived from the average sales of agricultural products and expenditures for agricultural materials per farm household throughout Japan which are obtained by the "Survey on Farm Management and Economy" (see "7 Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries"). The index items are composed of 129 items for agricultural products, 172 for materials for agricultural production. The prices are obtained from "Survey of Agricultural Prices" (see "7 Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries").
The indices have been compiled monthly since August 1946 by the Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications for the purpose of measuring changes in prices of various goods and services purchased by consumers' households (excluding one-person households). Originally, the indices were computed by Fisher's formula based on the "effective prices" and weights obtained from the Consumer Price Survey. However, after several revisions, the present indices are compiled based on retail prices obtained from "Retail Price Survey" (described later), using Laspeyres-type formula. The indices have been revised every five years and the base year of the present index is 2005.
The weights are calculated on the basis of average monthly living expenditures per household by commodity of all households in 2005 obtained from "Family Income and Expenditure Survey" (see "19 Family Income and Expenditure"). Index items to be priced are 584 items which are selected according to the relative importance in total living expenditures. Prices of index items are furnished by the "Retail Price Survey". The computation of the index for "imputed rent" was started following adoption of 1970 as the base year, and the "general index including imputed rent" was computed as a reference series. At the revision of Consumer Price Index to 1985 base, "imputed rent" was included in the general index, which is the most basic index.
The indices have been compiled annually since 1947 by the Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications with the aim of measuring regional differences in the level of consumer prices. The coverage of the indices is the same as that of the Consumer Price Index. The annual average indices are computed by the Laspeyres-type formula adopting two base areas: Japan=100 and ku-area of Tokyo=100.
The weights are calculated on the basis of the annual averages of living expenditures by commodity of all households obtained from "Family Income and Expenditure Survey" for the year, and index items and their prices are the same as those in the Consumer Price Index.
The National Survey of Prices was first conducted in 1967 with an aim to provide basic information on prices and to clarify the price differentials among stores, brand items and regions. The 2007 survey is the tenth survey in the series. In the 2007 survey, prices were collected for 180 items and 337 brands in about 137,000 stores in 673 municipalities.
Two kinds of statistics were compiled from the Survey: the price distributions statistics to measure the price differences of individual items among regions and shops, and the index of regional price differences to measure the differences in the price level among regions.
The index of regional price differences is an index taking the whole Japan as 100 and consolidating prices of goods and services purchased by households by a quasi-Fisher formula (a geometric mean of reconstructed indices from quasi-Laspeyres and quasi-Paasche formula). The weights used for computing index from municipal data are derived from "Family Income and Expenditure Survey", "National Survey of Family Income and Expenditure" and "Population Census".
Retail Price Survey (Fundamental Statistical Survey) The survey aims at providing price data for the Consumer Price Index and other basic materials concerning prices, by collecting retail prices, charges and rents of commodities and services which constitute items essential to consumers' daily life. It has been conducted every month since June 1950 by the Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
The survey is conducted at about 26,000 retail stores and establishments in selected 167 shi (cities), machi (towns) and mura (villages). As of April 2010, the number of survey items is 530, and price data by 750 item specifications (subdivision of items) are collected.
Prices surveyed are normal retail prices or normal service charges actually sold to consumers for cash at the store and exclude, as a rule, bargain prices for a short period and temporary extraordinary prices such as those of clearance sale
The index is aimed to measure changes in prices of urban land, and compiled since September 1936 by the Nippon Kangyo Bank, but in March 1959 the work was undertaken by the Japan Real Estate Institute. The base of the present index is March 2000, and the index is computed semiannually (at the end of March and September). Land prices used in the index calculation are surveyed in 223 major cities, and the points of pricing are selected according to use of the land (commercial, residential and industrial) and according to grade of the land (high, medium and low). The index of the present term is calculated by multiplying the index of the previous term and the average change of prices over the previous term by use.
This survey is conducted at the designated points once a year by prefectures with the aim to implement the regulation on transactions of land based on the National Land Use Planning Act properly and smoothly. The report of the survey is released by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. The 2010 survey covered 22,129 lots for residential area and 572 lots for forest area. Prices sought are those judged appropriate by the prefectural governors based on the prices evaluated by real estate appraisers.
