Prices Statistics
Prices statistics presents the consumer price index, producer price index and construction
materials price index. These data were obtained from the Trade and Economic Indices Bureau,
Office of the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Commerce.
Consumer Price Index (CPI)
Consumer Price Index is considered for measuring the cost of living changes of the
consumers when the price level is changed. The Department of Business Economics had been
published the cost of living index and the retail price index for distributing since 1948. Both
mentioned indexes were discontinued since the new series of consumer price index has been
published in 1962.
Core consumer price index is the consumer price index excluding raw food and energy
items.
At present, the index calculation and their weight has improved every 5 years. Up-dating of
the base-year and the weight factor for calculating CPI of Thailand is obtained from the Household
Socio-Economics Survey conducted by National Statistical Office. Therefore, updating the base-year
from 1994 to 1998 by using the information from the mentioned survey in 1998 will be effective
from 2002 and then.
Producer Price Index (PPI)
Producer Price Index is defined as measure of the price change. The Department of
Business Economics has compiled and analyzed the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) since 1943 by
using 1938, 1948, 1968 and 1976 as the base years respectively, with a view to keeping abreast of
fluctuation in transaction prices of all representative commodities.
In 1985, the compilation of WPI has been improved by way of reclassification of
commodities with a view to better analyze trend of prices. It has therefore been renamed as the
Producer Price Index (PPI) according to the United States system of classification. These indexes
would enable various user to monitor changes in prices from production stage to primary markets
and using 1985 as the base year (1985 = 100).
