Statistics on Material and Technical Supply

the branch of economic statistics that deals with distribution of the means of production within the national economy and supply of the means of production to enterprises.

Rational organization of material and technical supply is essential for uninterrupted work by socialist enterprises and for planned and proportional development of the national economy. Material and technical supply embraces both the disposal (marketing) of the means of production and the provision of the means of production to enterprises. On the scale of the national economy, disposal and supply make up a single process, by which the means of production move from suppliers to customers—as is clear in state plans for material and technical supply, which are disposal plans for suppliers and supply plans for customers.

The primary tasks of statistics on material and technical supply are to organize the monitoring, processing, and analysis of data on (1) plan fulfillment for supply of the requisite means of production to the national economy, individual branches of the economy, and enterprises with respect to quantity, assortment, and delivery schedules; (2) economical use of material resources and fulfillment of utilization norms for fuel, energy, and raw and other materials; (3) availability of reserves of fuels and raw and other materials and provision of such items to the national economy and individual customers; and (4) distribution costs, profits and losses, the number of workers and labor remuneration, and other indexes of the financial and economic activity of supply-disposal organizations. Statistics on material and technical supply also involve the compilation and analysis of the material balances reported for individual products.

In order to accomplish these tasks, the USSR has instituted state statistical reporting on material and technical supply, which makes it possible to keep account of the availability and movement of each type of means of production. Supply enterprises and disposal organizations report regularly on delivery to customers and on finished products not yet dispatched to the stores. Enterprises that consume the means of production submit reports on the receipt, utilization, and balance on hand of various kinds of fuel and raw and other materials, and fulfillment of utilization norms for the principal kinds of material outlays. The offices of supply-disposal organs compile reports on the total volume of sales to customers, distribution costs, profits and losses, and other indexes of economic activity.

The leading indexes of statistics on material and technical supply are sales and deliveries to customers; the receipt, utilization and proportionate utilization of individual kinds of fuel, energy, and raw and other materials; the reserves (balance on hand) of material assets held by suppliers and customers; the availability of reserves at enterprises; distribution costs; and the profitability of the work of supply-disposal organizations. Most of the indexes used in statistics on material and technical supply—such as delivery, utilization, proportionate utilization, and balance on hand—are given in physical measures, which makes it possible to obtain a precise description of the means of production supplied to the national economy and to individual branches of the economy, to ascertain the comprehensiveness of supply, and to check the suppliers’ fulfillment of their obligations with respect to quality, assortment, and quantity of products delivered. Measures of cost are used for the total volume of sales, distribution costs, profits and losses, and other indexes of financial and management activity.