Index of household consumption of goods, October 2002

The unadjusted volume index of commodity consumption was 5.6 per cent higher in October 2002 than in October last year.

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.

Compared with the index of retail sales, the index of commodity consumption also covers 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 entails deviating development in 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 and motorcycles, sales of petrol and oil (to petrol stations) and household consumption of electricity. The index of commodity consumption uses the consumer price index for deflation while the retail sales index uses the price index for retail sales for this purpose.

The index of commodity consumption uses the same definitions and 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.