Role and importance of Distributive Trade Statistics Workshop for African countries on the Implementation of International Recommendations for Distributive Trade Statistics 27-30 May 2008, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia UNITED NATIONS STATISTICS DIVISION Trade Statistics Branch Distributive Trade Statistics Section

Role and Importance of Distributive Trade (1) Contribution of service activities, incl. DT, in terms of VA and employment is steadily increasing DT ensures the principal link between the producer and the end consumer DT plays a major role in price formation Demand for internationally comparable data on detailed (structural) and short-term DTS is increasing even more

Role and Importance of Distributive Trade (2) Organization of trade has evolved a lot and statistics need to reflect the new tendencies Structure and performance of DT vary widely from one country to another Common features - large number of units and relatively high births and deaths rates Informal sector units - typical for developing countries; complicate statistical observation

Trends in Distributive Trade (1) Increasing concentration Companies need to be large to compete and achieve economies of scale and scope Concentration first at the domestic market, then abroad Formation of joint purchasing groups Food retailers are signing agreements with major food producers to more effectively compete with others – franchising, retail chains etc. Expansion of E-commerce Strong growth of both B2B and B2C e-commerce worldwide

Trends in Distributive Trade (2) Frequent vertical integration of the wholesale and retail trades, with growing sales of own-brand products Traditional distinction between wholesale and retail distribution is becoming increasingly difficult to make Manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers, which were traditionally independent now increasingly co-operate Increasing internationalisation DT provides a link between producers and buyers operating on the global markets as importers and exporters

Challenges of compiling DTS (1) Need of integrated approach to compilation of DTS at national level Ensures coherence between: Annual and short-term DTS Data derived from different data sources DTS and statistics for other economic activities DTS and NA Ensures consistency of concepts definitions and terminology Ensures uniformity in international reporting

Challenges of compiling DTS (2) Comparable data on value added and employment in distributive trade is hardly available at the international level Different methodologies used by countries for compiling DTS Different classifications Different statistical units from which data are collected NA is the only source used for analysing distributive trade sector

More about distributive trade in Africa Contribution of section G of ISIC to GDP Stable tendency for the last 5-6 years – 12,5% on average (without 2006) Highest contribution – Mozambique (23%) Countries above the average – Senegal (17%), Egypt (14%), Zambia (18-19%) Lowest contribution – Swaziland (5%) The scope of section G in previous versions of ISIC is different from ISIC, Rev.4 recommended in IRDTS 2008 ISIC, Rev. 3.1 includes repair of personal and household goods ISIC, Rev.2 includes hotels and restaurants

Users of DTS (1) Compilers of national accounts Measuring the trade output and valued added Compilation of supply and use tables and input-output tables Trade margins by commodity and by industry Combination and reconciliation of DTS with data from household expenditure surveys and production statistics Estimation of households final consumption expenditures on the basis of retail trade sales by commodity groups Compilation of quarterly national accounts using short-term indicators of distributive trade Compilation of monthly or quarterly index of services production

Users of DTS (2) Policy makers Business community Researchers Assessment of short and long-term movements in DT sector and in a country’s economy as a whole Rationalization of economic policies, including monetary policy Sub-national (regional/provincial) analysis Formulation of international policy Business community Assessment and forecasting of the dynamics of the wholesale and retail trade markets Evaluation of performance and competitiveness of various sub-sectors of distributive trade both nationally and internationally Researchers Economic analysis and studies Monitoring of economic trends and developing forecasts Market research for the sales of particular group of products etc. General public Evaluation of economic conditions, employment and income perspectives in order to make more informed decisions

UNSD work programme in the area of DTS Preparation of two follow up manuals providing practical guidance on the IRDTS 2008 implementation Distributive Trade Statistics: Compilers Manual Indices of Distributive Trade: A Handbook of Good Practices Collection of DTS data and metadata Design of a pilot version of DTS database

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