§ Mr. Gouldasked the Secretary of State for Trade what is the estimated average time-lag between the contract basis on which the wholesale price index for manufacturers is based and the delivered fob basis on which export prices are based and actually recorded.
§ Mr. MeacherOn the basis of information collected in a survey amongst firms in the mechanical, electrical and instrument engineering industries, it is estimated that, for these industries, in October 1975, there was an average time-lag of about three months between a price used in the construction of the wholesale price index—which is based on home sales only—and a corresponding export price derived from the overseas trade666W statistics. The estimate is based on the survey information on time-lags between order and shipment, which averaged about six months, and on methods of pricing. There is, however, substantial variation in these time-lags for the different products in these industries. Further, the average time-lag is likely to vary with the economic cycle. Details of the survey are given in an article "Improvements to the engineering series for the index of industrial production" which appeared in the May 1977 issue of Economic Trends. No information has been collected for other manufacturing industries. In general, however, the time-lags might be expected to be shorter.