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)
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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 shortterm 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
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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
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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
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Food retailers are signing agreements with
major food producers to more effectively
compete with others – franchising, retail chains
etc.
Expansion of E-commerce
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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
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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
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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
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Ensures coherence between:
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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
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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
Share of African countries that provided data for the
GVA of Section G of ISIC
(source UNSD NA database)
(%)
40.0
30.0
20.0
10.0
0.0
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
Average contribution of GVA of Section G of ISIC to GDP in African
countries
(source UNSD NA database)
(%)
13.0
12.5
12.0
11.5
11.0
10.5
10.0
9.5
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
Share of Section G of ISIC to GDP in selected
countries
(source UNSD NA database)
(%)
20.0
Brazil
Germany
15.0
Mexico
Poland
10.0
Singapore
5.0
USA
0.0
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
More about distributive trade in
Africa
Contribution of section G of ISIC to GDP
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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
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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
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Measuring the trade output and valued added
Compilation of supply and use tables and inputoutput tables
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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
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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
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Assessment and forecasting of the dynamics of the wholesale and
retail trade markets
Evaluation of performance and competitiveness of various subsectors of distributive trade both nationally and internationally
Researchers
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Economic analysis and studies
Monitoring of economic trends and developing forecasts
Market research for the sales of particular group of products etc.
General public
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Evaluation of economic conditions, employment and income
perspectives in order to make more informed decisions
UNSD work programme in the area
of DTS
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Preparation of two follow up manuals
providing practical guidance on the
IRDTS 2008 implementation
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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
Thank You