Producer price indices: documentation of statistics

The producer price indices measure the price development of commodities, i.e. inflation, from the perspective of enterprises. The indices describe the development in the prices of goods in primary and secondary production and in the prices of services in manufacturing in Finland. The producer price indices comprise five different indices that measure price development differently from each other. These indices are

• the producer price index for manufactured products
• the export price index
• the import price index
• the basic price index for domestic supply
• the basic price index for domestic supply, including taxes, i.e. the former wholesale price index.

The indices are product-based, so the main industry of the enterprises producing products and services is irrelevant. Data are collected from various sources and published monthly.

The Producer Price Index for Manufactured Products covers the commodities in industries B-E, ranging from minerals to water and waste management services.

The Export Price Index covers categories A-E, that is, commodities ranging from agricultural products to water and waste management services.

The Import Price Index covers categories A-E, that is, commodities ranging from agricultural products to water and waste management services.

The Basic Price Index for Domestic Supply covers the commodities in industries A to F, from agricultural products to construction. The Basic Price Index for Domestic Supply, Including Taxes covers the commodities in industries A to F, from agricultural products to construction.

Statistical unit is KAU, i.e kind-of-activity unit.

The basic population of the producer price indices is formed by all enterprises operating in Finland that manufacture, export or import products or industrial services belonging to main categories A to F of the CPA 2015 product classification.

Producer price indices are compiled on product basis. Producer price indices for manufactured products describe development in the prices of goods and services in primary and secondary production. The indices are product-based, so the main industry of the enterprises producing products and services is irrelevant. If a service enterprise also produces goods, its goods production is excluded from the scope of the description of the Producer Price Index for Services. On the other hand, an enterprise that mainly produces industrial goods may also produce other services than industrial services, in which case for these services, the enterprise belongs to the scope of the description of the Producer Price Index for Services.

The geographical coverage is the whole country.

Time series for the new 2021=100 indices are available starting from index data for January 1995 (however, for the years 1995 to 2009 only at the 2-digit level and without the division of the Producer Price Index for Manufactured Products into domestic and export goods and the division of the Basic Price Index for Domestic Supply and the Basic Price Index for Domestic Supply, Including Taxes into domestic and imported goods). Regarding old indices, 2015=100, 2010=100 and 2005=100 series are produced for the time being, without the division of the Producer Price Index for Manufactured Products into domestic and export goods and the division of the Basic Price Index for Domestic Supply and the Basic Price Index for Domestic Supply, Including Taxes into domestic and imported goods. 2015=100 and 2010=100 indices, however, include the above-mentioned division starting from 2010. All publishable point figures are produced from the 1949=100 series.

Base period is year 2021 (2021=100).

The data of the producer price indices are published as index point figures. In addition, change percentages calculated on the basis of indices are published.

Reference period is month.

The producer price indices for manufactured products are published monthly on the 24th day of the month following the statistical reference month or on the first working day following it. As an exception to this rule, the statistics for January is published a couple of days later due to changes to the weight structure of the index, and the statistics for November is released before 24 December.

Starting from the base year 2015, the classification is the Classification of Products by Activity CPA 2015 (CPA Ver.2.1 ), which is the European Statistical Classification of Products by Activity CPA. In addition, the classification by purpose of use, MIG is used: energy products, raw materials and producer’s goods, investment goods, and durable and other consumer goods.

In indices with the base year 2010 or 2005, the publication levels used are the national Standard Industrial Classification TOL 2008 based on the European Union’s classification of economic activities NACE Rev. 2. The UN's International SITC product classification (Standard International Trade Classification) is used in indices whose base year is 1949. In addition, the UN's International ISIC industry classification (International Standard Industrial Classification) is used in the Producer Price Index for Manufactured Products 1949=100.

The compilation of statistics is guided by the Statistics Act. The Statistics Act contains provisions on collection of data, processing of data and the obligation to provide data. Besides the Statistics Act, the General Data Protection Regulation, the Data Protection Act and the Act on the Openness of Government Activities are applied to processing of data when producing statistics.

Statistics Finland compiles statistics in line with the EU’s regulations applicable to statistics, which steer the statistical agencies of all EU Member States.

Further information: Statistical legislation

The compilation of statistics is guided by the Statistics Act. The Statistics Act contains provisions on collection of data, processing of data and the obligation to provide data. Besides the Statistics Act, the Data Protection Act and the Act on the Openness of Government Activities are applied to processing of data when producing statistics.

Statistics Finland compiles statistics in line with the EU’s regulations applicable to statistics, which steer the statistical agencies of all EU Member States.

Producer price indices comply with the following regulations:

• Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European business statistics
• Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197

Further information: Statistical legislation

The published producer price indices are delivered monthly to Eurostat, which publishes them on its web pages.

The response burden was last measured in autumn 2018. In the monthly data collection for producer price indices for manufactured products and services, the median for the response time is 15 minutes per response round per respondent. The average sample size per collection is 950 respondents and around 11,400 responses are given annually.

The data collection and calculation of producer price indices are based on a sample. The samples of CPA product categories and enterprise data suppliers included in producer price indices are generally revised annually; starting from 2019, the producer price indices adopted an annual chain index, which means the sample is updated and maintained annually.

In producer price indices the sample is formed by first drawing the product sample (CPA product categories) after which the enterprise sample is drawn for each CPA product category. Price data are collected from enterprises included in the sample from which the price index is calculated by weighting. This price index is considered to be descriptive of average development in the prices of all commodities included in the population.

The frames of CPA product categories for the producer price indices is built by using the data of the supply and use tables of national accounts, the statistics on industrial production and Finnish Customs' statistics on foreign trade. The frames contain the values of production produced in Finland, and exports and imports by product category. Transit exports are deducted from exports, so the figure that remains is the value of exports produced in Finland only. Transit exports are correspondingly deducted from imports so the figure that remains is the value of imports remaining in Finland only. The value of production staying on the domestic market is obtained by deducting exports from the value of domestic supply.

The most important function of producer price indices is to serve as deflators. Producer price indices are used to deflate the value of production in, for instance, national accounts calculations. From the deflator perspective it is important that a price index is also compiled for all CPA product categories for which domestic supply/exports/imports is high. The emphasis on the indices’ function as deflator affects the selection of product categories for producer price indices. The cut off method is applied in sampling the product groups. The CPA product categories with the highest production/export/import values are selected for the price indices. However, this was not a pure cut-off method in which all units beyond a certain threshold would be included. Occasionally, a product category that should in fact be included in the sample may be missing and, on the other hand, product categories that do not exceed the threshold value may be included.

In addition to the data collected direct from enterprises, price data or point figures from other statistics of Statistics Finland are also used in calculating the producer price indices. These statistics include such as the Index of Producer Prices of Agricultural Products, the Building Cost Index, the Cost Index of Civil Engineering Works, the Consumer Price Index and the Volume Index of Newbuilding. The data of the Index of Producer Prices of Agricultural Products are used in the monitoring of vegetable prices. The data of the Building Cost Index are used to monitor the prices of certain building products. An implicit price index derived from the Cost Index of Civil Engineering Works and the Volume Index of Newbuilding is used to monitor prices in construction.

The development in the prices of certain raw material based products in imports and exports is measured with the import and export unit value prices obtained from the foreign trade statistics of Finnish Customs. Unit values are only used to measure the price development of homogeneous product groups, such as timber, cereal, and imported and exported electricity. In addition to data from Finnish Customs, data from the Finnish Forest Research Institute, the Natural Resources Institute Finland, the Energy Authority, the Finnish Energy Industries and some international commodity exchanges, such as the London Metal Exchange are used in the producer price indices.

The data for the producer price for manufactured products are, as a rule, collected monthly. However, due to practical reasons, when prices remain unchanged, some price data are collected less often. The share of price data collected less frequently than once per quarter is about 15 per cent.

Data for Statistics Finland's own data collection are gathered with a web questionnaire. In addition, Statistics Finland has an agreement with Finnish Customs that Finnish Customs delivers data related to international trade to Statistics Finland on a day agreed monthly.  

The web questionnaire of the producer prices has been tested in connection with its introduction and when changes have been made to it. The response burden of the data collection is monitored regularly. In addition, the non-response rate of the inquiry is monitored monthly. 

Producer price indices are “pure” price indices, which are not affected by changes in the quality of the products (in statistical jargon, quality changes refer to changes in the characteristics of the product). Efforts are made to eliminate price changes caused by changes in the characteristics of the products from the index. The physical, technical and financial (such and conditions on financing, guarantee, whether product is sold to a wholesaler or retailer, etc.) characteristics of a product must remain unchanged. In practice, product characteristics change continuously. Changes to the characteristics and their treatment are among the main challenges in index calculations.

In producer price indices, several methods are applied to control changes in the characteristics to make sure that the best possible method for measuring price change is always used. In the first place, efforts are made to collect an overlapping price observation for the changed product. In practice, this means that as the product changes the price for the preceding period is collected in addition to the price for the reference period. This allows the true change in the price to be calculated and the price history stays unbroken despite the change in the monitored product. The price for the reference period can concern the month or quarter and the preceding period refers to the preceding corresponding period. If overlapping price observations cannot be obtained, various pricing methods can be used to measure/assess the price change, such as model or component pricing. Expert assessment can also be used to assess price changes. In this case, the respondent is asked to assess which proportion of the price change is a genuine change in price and which proportion is due to the change in the characteristics of the product. The expert assessment is based on the idea that the data supplier enterprise is best equipped to estimate the price development of its own products. If neither an overlapping price observation nor an expert assessment can be obtained and price measurement methods cannot be applied, the price development of the product is imputed with the average change in the prices of other products belonging to the same commodity group. The imputation is based on the assumption that the prices of products in the same commodity group develop in roughly the same way. If none of the above methods can be used, discretionary use of the following methods is possible:

• The characteristics of the changed product are assumed to be the same as that of the earlier product. In this case, the price change is included in the index as such.
• The price change is assumed to derive entirely from a change in the characteristics, in which case the price change is eliminated, and the index does not change as the product changes.

Price measuring and methodologies to control changes in quality are constantly being developed and international guidelines and recommendations are taken into account when applying different methods.

If neither an overlapping price observation nor an expert assessment can be obtained and price measurement methods cannot be applied, the price development of the product is imputed with the average change in the prices of other products belonging to the same commodity group. The imputation is based on the assumption that the prices of products in the same commodity group develop in roughly the same way.

The overall index of producer price indices describes the average development in the prices of the product groups included in the index. The individual products whose prices are monitored, or variants, reported by an enterprise do not have their own weights but the enterprise-specific CPA product category indices, or elementary indices, are calculated as the geometric average of the price ratios (=current price/price at comparison period) of the products belonging to that category. The elementary indices are aggregated into an overall index and to the higher levels of the CPA product classification according to Laspeyres' index formula with a weighting coefficient corresponding to each product category and enterprise. In other words, changes in the price ratios of individual products have different-sized effects on the overall index.

Producer price indices are used to describe short-term inflationary pressures in different sectors of the economy. They are also used in GDP and volume calculations. Research institutes and enterprises use the indices in their reports, monitoring and forecasts. They can also be used as index clauses in agreements.

Eurostat assesses six-monthly the fulfilment of the regulation requirements of short-term business statistics. The producer price index belongs to short-term business statistics, and Finland's latest assessment of the fulfilment of the regulations was the maximum, 10 points.

There are many possible error sources in producer price indices, for example

• sampling error
• deficient product and enterprise frameworks
• non-response
• quality changes in service products included in price collection
• substitution bias

Monthly response rate in price collection is around 90 to 95 percentages. The non-response rate is kept low by actively reminding the respondent to answer the inquiry.

The calculation of producer price indices is based on a sample. Sampling error is always associated with sampling. In the calculation solution, the randomness caused by sampling is reduced by the fact that the statistics are based on a panel design: data have been collected repeatedly from the same respondents over a longer period. This procedure ensures that the price change estimates produced by the index are very precise in a sampling technical respect.

Substitution bias

Producer price indices use the Laspeyres index formula. Scientific literature on indices often refers to the substitution bias that Laspeyres’ index formula may create. The direction of the bias depends on the target of measurement. In the case of the producer price indices, substitution bias may arise because (when maximising their profits) enterprises react to changes in relative prices by changing their production volumes. For example, if the price of light fuel oil rises relative to petrol, an enterprise engaged in the oil industry can produce more light fuel oil. In such a case, an index calculated with the Laspeyres’ formula underestimates price development from the enterprises’ viewpoint. The significance of the substitution bias depends on the scale at which individual enterprises are able to redirect their production when relative prices change.

Bias caused by new products

Producer price indices may contain bias arising from the entry of new products or services on the market. When speaking of new products reference is often made to electrotechnical and electrical products or digital services whose production and sales can grow quite rapidly. The structural change is also fast in the service industry and new services are developed constantly. If the change is vigorous, the index may not describe sufficiently accurately the average development in the prices of the commodities produced in the economy.

Bias caused by quality change

The objective of producer price indices is to describe pure price development, which is why changes in the quality or characteristics of products must be taken into consideration in the index calculation. The problem of quality change is usually encountered either when a data supplier reports that a product included in the collection is no longer produced, imported or exported, or that changes have been made to an existing product. Changes in quality may cause error in the index as the defining of a pure price change can be difficult and, conversely, the proportion of a price change that is due to changed quality is difficult to estimate and eliminate from calculations. If, as a product changes, we assume that the entire price change is due to a change in the characteristics of the product, we may disregard genuine changes in price, whereby the index incorrectly does not change at all for the product in question. If, then again, we assume that the entire price change is due to a genuine change in price, we may disregard changed product characteristics and the index changes too much.

The producer price indices for services are product-based statistics, that is, the main industry of an enterprise manufacturing, exporting or importing a product is irrelevant. The principle of statistics compilation is also economic ownership, that is, exports and imports of a product are not determined by physical movement of products across borders, but by economic ownership and its change. The data from which the samples and weight structures of the statistics are formed do not necessarily take these factors fully into account, which may cause both over-coverage and under-coverage to the sample.

The monthly non-response rate ranges from five to ten per cent in producer price indices.

Quality management requires comprehensive guidance of activities. The European Statistics Code of Practice forms the basis for the common quality system of the European Statistical System.

The Code of Practice is based on 16 principles that concern statistical authorities' independence, accountability and the quality of the processes and data to be published.

The principles are in line with the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics approved by the United Nations Statistics Commission and are supplementary to them. The quality criteria of Official Statistics of Finland are compatible with the European Statistics Code of Practice.

Further information: European Statistics Code of Practice | Statistics Finland and Recommendations of the Advisory Board of Official Statistics of Finland | Statistics Finland

The quality of the producer price index is evaluated in several different stages of the statistical process. Changes in unit-level data are examined monthly and the correctness of exceptional data is examined. Aggregate level data are also checked.

Producer price indices are not revised.

The producer price indices for manufactured products are published monthly on the 24th day of the month following the statistical reference month or on the first working day following it. As an exception to this rule, the statistics for January are published a couple of days later due to changes to the weight structure of the index, and the statistics for November are released before 24 December.

Indices have been published according to the prescheduled release calendar.

European definitions according to the short-term business statistics regulation are used in the production of the statistics, so the data of the statistics are internationally comparable and cover the whole of Finland.

The time series of producer prices are mainly comparable over time.

The reference year, or base year, of the indices is 2021. The classification used in the releases is the CPA 2015 product classification instead of the previously used European industry standard classification system NACE. Publishing of data with base years 2015=100, 2010=100, and 2005=100 and in producer prices for manufactured goods also with base year 1949=100 will continue. Only the indices of the latest base year are genuinely calculated - indices with old base years are chained forward with the changes of the latest base year indices.

Starting from 2019, producer price indices are annual chain-linked indices. In practice, the shift to the chain-linked index method means that the weight structure of the producer price indices is updated every year. The new weight structure takes effect starting from the index for January of each year. In addition to the weight structure, product categories and the enterprise sample can also be updated annually. With the annual chain index method, changes in production, exports and imports can be taken into account.

The chaining coefficients of old base year indices are presented in the Handbook for users. Chaining coefficients for other product categories may be requested from the statistical experts of producer price indices.

The weight structures of the indices updated in 2026

In January 2026, the weight structure of the producer price indices was updated to reflect the structure of the 2025 economy. The most recent available data from national accounts, industrial output statistics and Customs' foreign trade statistics are used in preparing the weight structures. 

The most recent balanced data in the supply and use tables concerned the year 2023. Additional correction to the weight structure was made for electricity; the 2023 electricity data was not considered to be representative considering the 2025 economy structure, so the 2025 data was used instead.

The most detailed product group and company weights are based on data from the 2024 Customs' foreign trade statistics and industrial output statistics.

The weight structures of the indices are available in the documentation section of the statistics.

The price indices concerning commodities compiled by Statistics Finland can be described as a system whose aim is to measure the development of prices at different stages of production and distribution. Producer price indices for agricultural products, manufactured products and services describe the price development at the early stage of price formation as products leave their producers or enter the country. The price index for wholesale goods would locate in the second stage of distribution.

Statistics Finland does not compile a price index for wholesale goods. Wholesale and retail trade margins come under the scope of description of producer price indices for services. In the classification of products, they mainly belong to categories 46 Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles and 47 Retail trade (excl. motor vehicles and motorcycles); wholesale and retail trade of motor vehicles and the revision is differentiated into category 45. For the time being, Statistics Finland does not compile price indices for trade margins.

Development in the prices of consumption goods and services at the end use stage is measured by the Consumer Price Index. 

The monthly, quarterly and annual data on the producer price indices are compiled in the same way so they are fully congruent.

The producer price indices are used as a deflator in national accounts. National accounts supply and use tables are used in the compilation of the weight structure of the producer price indices.

The producer price indices for manufactured products and services measure development of the prices of products and services produced by enterprises. So, producer price indices depict inflation from the viewpoint of enterprises. Producer price indices belong to short term business statistics that describe the short-term development in various factors and areas of economy. Industrial producer price indices are published monthly. Producer price indices for services are published quarterly.

Five different indices are produced under the producer price indices for manufacturing: producer price index for manufactured products, export price index, import price index, basic price index for domestic supply, and basic price index for domestic supply, including taxes (formerly wholesale price index). The producer price indices for services, in turn, describe the price development of services provided by enterprises to other enterprises and the public sector (Business to Business, BtoB), to households (Business to Consumers, BtoC) and to all end users (Business to All, BtoAll). All the above-mentioned indices measure price development slightly differently from each other because the price concepts used, and the industries covered vary by index.

The producer price indices for manufactured products and services are compiled with the same methods.

Statistics Finland publishes new statistical data at 8 am on weekdays in its web service. The release times of statistics are given in advance in the release calendar available in the web service. The data become public after they have been updated in the web service.

Further information: Publication principles for statistics at Statistics Finland

Statistics Finland's release calendar Future publications

Future publications of the statistics can be found on the page of the statistics at: Future publications of the statistics

The data are released to all users at the same time. Statistical data may be processed at Statistics Finland and information on them may be given before release only by persons involved in the production of the statistics concerned or who need the data of the statistics concerned in their own work before the data are published.

Further information: Publication principles for statistics

Unless otherwise specifically stated in connection with the product, data or service concerned, Statistics Finland is the producer and copyright owner of the data. The terms of use for statistical data.

Producer price indices are published monthly on the statistics homepage. Producer price indices are not revised after publishing.

The release is published monthly on the home page of the statistics.

The statistics do not have any other publications.

The database tables of the statistics can be found in the StatFin database.

Unit-level data of the producer price indices are used only for producing the statistics and others than producers of statistics do not have access to microdata.

The publication of topical news, such as news highlights, is decided on a case-by-case basis.

The channels of topical news are

https://stat.fi/tilasto/thi

www.facebook.com/Tilastotohtori

https://twitter.com/tilastokeskus

Methodological description for the producer price index is available in the statistics' Handbook for users

The data protection of data collected for statistical purposes is guaranteed. The compilation of statistics is guided by the Statistics Act. Alongside the Statistics Act, the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation and the Finnish Data Protection Act are applied to the processing of personal data. Provisions on the confidentiality of data collected for statistical purposes are laid down in the Act on the Openness of Government Activities.

The data are processed only by persons who need the data in their work. The use of data is restricted by usage rights. All persons employed by Statistics Finland have signed a pledge of secrecy, where they have obliged to keep secret the data prescribed as confidential by virtue of the Statistics Act or the Act on the Openness of Government Activities.

Further information: Data protection | Statistics Finland (stat.fi)

The confidentiality of the information, prices, is taken into account when publishing the statistics: no information on individual enterprise can be deducted from the results.

If the price movements of single enterprise can be detected from any 1-, 2-, 3- or 4-digit CPA level index, then that index series sent to Eurostat is flagged as confidential data.