Consumer prices indices in 2018: basket, weight structure and survey updates

As every year, Istat reviews the list of items included in the consumer price index basket, and updates as well the survey techniques and the weights of each item to compile inflation.

In 2018 the most important news is the introduction of the use of scanner data to calculate of All-item index in Italy with reference to grocery products (processed food, products for house maintenance and personal care) sold in hypermarkets and supermarkets. The availability of this new data source is the result of the collaboration with the large retail chains and with the Association of Modern Distribution.

The 2018 basket for the Italian consumer price indices for the whole nation (NIC) and for blue and white-collar households (FOI) is made up of 1,489 elementary products (1,481 in 2017), which are grouped into 920 products and 404 product aggregates.

The 2018 basket for the Italian harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) is made up of 1,
506 elementary products (1,498 in 2017), grouped into 923 products and 408 product aggregates.

The review of the basket of products takes into account the changes in the household spending patterns and enriches, in some cases, the range of products which represent consolidated consumption.

In 2018, Avocado, Mango, Liqueur wines, Wash dryer and Robot vacuum cleaner are brought in. On the other hand, Public telephone service, RAI fee, and Mp4 player are removed from the basket.

In total more than 4,500,000 price quotations are collected each month, from different sources: 461,000 of them are collected locally by the Municipal Offices of Statistics (MOS); 153,000 are collected directly by Istat and about 3,840,000 come from scanner data. About 63,700 quotes are collected from automotive fuels prices database of the Ministry of Economic Development.

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