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With the Chinese New Year looming, many households are busy shopping and cleaning up their houses in accordance with tradition. At this time of the year, the expenditures of Chinese families are usually higher than those in the rest of the year.

The expenditure items related to Chinese New Year include festive confectionery, food, clothing and cleansing supplies. A household may be aware that its expenditure is higher than usual during this period, but not every household keeps a detailed expenditure record. Those households participating in the Household Expenditure Survey (HES) conducted by the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) - that are requested to fill in a detailed Expenditure Diary during a specific two-week period - are probably the exceptions.

The objective of the HES is to collect up-to-date information on the expenditure patterns of households for updating the expenditure weights required for compiling the Consumer Price Indices (CPI).

"With the launching of new products in the market and changes in people's living habits, the types of goods and services that people purchase nowadays may differ significantly from those that they bought a few years ago," Senior Statistician Marion Chan said today (February 5). "For instance, the proportion of expenditure on electronic products in recent years may be higher than that in the past; and a faster pace of living could also mean more eating out. We call these changes in the 'consumption basket'," she said.

"If there is a substantial change in the consumption basket and this has not been taken into account in compiling the CPI, the validity of the indices will be affected. In this regard, the C&SD conducts an HES once every five years to collect up-to-date information on household expenditure."

A new round of 2004/05 Household Expenditure Survey (2004/05 HES) began in October last year. The results of the survey, together with the retail prices of goods and services continuously collected by the C&SD on a monthly basis, will be used in compiling new series of CPI for use by the government, public organisations, private enterprises and academic institutions.

The HES is conducted for a whole year as there are seasonal variations in household expenditure patterns during the year. For instance, special expenditures are incurred around the New Year and during the summer vacation. To reduce the burden of the respondents in filling in the questionnaires, the one-year survey period is broken down into 26 bi-weekly cycles and each sampled household is requested to take part in only one bi-weekly cycle.

A diary-keeping approach has been adopted for the HES. Each sampled household is requested to record details of their daily expenditure during the 14 consecutive days in the bi-weekly cycle, including every item of goods or services purchased, the types of outlets and the amounts spent.

In fact, the expenditure pattern of every household is different from those of other households. It is through the conduct of a sizable survey that the C&SD collects sufficient data to reflect the general expenditure pattern of households in Hong Kong.

"Apart from an index for reflecting overall consumer price changes, we also compile the CPI(A), CPI(B) and CPI(C) to reflect the price changes experienced by households at different expenditure levels. To this end, we will also analyse the information collected from the HES in detail, so as to identify the expenditure patterns of households at different expenditure levels," Ms Chan added.

"The detailed information provided by the responded households is very important for our subsequent compilation of the CPIs. We are very grateful to those households that participate in the survey. The information provided by the individual households will be kept in strict confidence. Anyone who has queries about this survey may call the department at 2116 8556."

Ends/Saturday, February 5, 2005

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