Status
The 2004 Annual Survey of Manufactures List of Goods has been replaced by the North American Product Classification System (NAPCS) Canada 2012 as of October 15, 2012. The implementation of NAPCS Canada 2012 will be phased by the various surveys and statistical programs.
The Annual Survey of Manufactures List of Goods (ASM List of Goods) is a new system for classifying goods manufactured in Canada. It was used for the first time on the 2004 Annual Survey of Manufactures (ASM) to classify both goods purchased and goods produced by Canadian manufacturers. Work has been initiated to integrate the ASM List of Goods into the North American Product Classification System (NAPCS) which will be the standard for classifying both goods and services. The ASM List of Goods classifies products according to their industry of origin, that is, where in the economy they are primarily produced, based on the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS).
Much of the ASM List of Goods consists of an explicit enumeration of specific products. Goods that are not explicitly identified in the list are ruled to a product class that relates to the industry in which such a good would primarily be produced. For example, Molasses is not referred to in the classification, but because it is a product of Sugar Manufacturing it is ruled to 3113100, Refined sugar and sugar mill by-products. In principle, each good has only one valid place in the List, based on the primary producing industry (with additional rulings as necessary), so that the classes are mutually exclusive. Also, any good produced through a manufacturing process, and any good that is an input into manufacturing, has a place in this classification.
The ASM List of Goods replaces the Standard Classification of Goods (SCG), which was last used to classify goods on the 2003 ASM. Implementation of the ASM List of Goods serves two ends. First, the design of the ASM List of Goods will dramatically increase compatibility between Canadian and American data for manufacturing production. Canada and the United States use the common framework of the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) to classify industrial activity. Since both countries identify products linked to these industries, identification of goods rests on the same industrial base. Second, the burden on respondents has been reduced by reducing the number of goods classes on the ASM. The SCG identified over 7000 classes for the ASM compared to 1400 classes in the ASM List of Goods.
The ASM List of Goods was developed for Canadian requirements, building upon the work of the United States Census Bureau for their Numerical List of Manufactured and Mineral Products, most recently revised in 2002. Both of these lists classify products according to their industry of primary production. By contrast, the SCG used in the Annual Survey of Manufactures for reference years 1988 to 2003, was based on the Harmonized System (HS) used for classification for international trade and tariff purposes. The HS relies first on physical characteristics of goods, such as component material, while stage of fabrication and producing industry only appear at further degrees of detail, if at all. Statistics collected according to the ASM 2004 therefore are not as a rule comparable to those collected according to the SCG. Also, as is already the case in the United States, from 2004 onwards production data for Canada will also not be comparable in detail with trade data, which will continue to be compiled on an HS basis.
Structure
The codes of the ASM List of Goods begin with a six digits NAICS code. Like the codes developed by the United States Census Bureau for the Numerical List of Manufactured and Mineral Products, the code represents the American industry which primarily produces the class of goods. Most of the codes used here are the same as those used in the Numerical List, and those that were developed for Canadian statistical requirements were still given a code rooted in the American industry. In a very few cases, one or more digits of the industry code were "zeroed out", to reflect that the same good may be produced in more than one U.S. industry, usually where the U.S. industries are not reflected in Canadian detail. For example, 3113100, Refined sugar and sugar mill by-products, takes in products of all three U.S. industries which produce sugar.
The ASM List of Goods is presented here as a list of codes in numerical order. While the NAICS subsectors (3-digit headings) are followed fairly closely, the list is not hierarchical at further levels of detail. For example, flour mixes are produced in flour mills of NAICS 311211 and in flour mixes and dough manufacturing of 311822, but the List of Products includes only one entry, 311822A which is used in both producing industries. It is therefore impossible to aggregate according to the NAICS industry structure. (See Products Differentiated only by Process of Manufacture, below, for further discussion).
Also, in the ASM List of Goods the order of classes is not in itself significant. For example, in the SCG the residual classes were always found at the end of a list at each level whether 4, 6, or 8-digit; similarly in the NAICS structure. In the ASM List of Goods residual classes can be found anywhere among the classes which are always 7 characters long, six digits and an alphanumeric character.
Differences from the Numerical List of Manufactured and Mineral Products
The ASM List of Goods is similar to the Numerical List of Manufactured and Mineral Products of the United States Census Bureau. The coding structures are nearly identical, rooted in the North American Industrial Classification System, except that the ASM only goes to a seventh digit broken from the six digit American industry code, while the Numerical List continues to eight- and ten-digit levels. The majority of seven-digit classes of Canadian and American lists are identical in content, but the two lists are not interchangeable. Conceptually, the differences between the ASM List of Goods and the Numerical List concern the treatment of goods differentiated by process, intermediate inputs from manufacturing and mining industries, raw material inputs from renewable resource industries, and manufacturing services.
Products distinguished only by process of manufacture - the ASM List of Goods and the Numerical List are based on the industry of origin, and the NAICS detail introduces goods that are differentiated only by the process producing them, and not by any characteristic that can be materially identified or that affects how the product is consumed. For example, Steel Wire Mesh is a primary product both of Steel Mills (NAICS 331110) and Other Fabricated Wire Product Manufacturing (NAICS 332619). The Numerical List generally creates distinct classes for these products in each of the producing industries, while the ASM List of Goods generally creates a single class for the good, placed in the list according to either the industry most significant for Canadian production of the good, or the industry specializing in the last stage of its production.
Inputs from manufacturing and mining industries - the ASM List of Goods uses a different approach to the intermediate inputs into manufacturing industries from that taken by the Numerical List. The latter collects these inputs using classes that can differ in content from the output classes of the Numerical List, and which are specific to the inputs of particular industries. (These aggregations are partly required because Numerical List makes distinctions between goods according to production processes, which manufacturers may not be able to report for their input commodities.) The Canadian adjustments made for the ASM List of Goods include a standardization of the classes for intermediate inputs. Thus the same classes are used for inputs across industries, and the same classes are also used for inputs as for outputs.
Agricultural, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting inputs - the Numerical List does not have standard classes for these inputs into manufacturing industries, since they are collected using codes that vary depending on the consuming industry. By contrast, for the ASM List of Goods, these products have been standardized and grouped where possible according to the primary producing industry or industry group. These goods are included although their production is not usually collected in the ASM, but only their use as raw material inputs. (These products are typically produced in NAICS subsectors 111 Crop Production, 112 Animal Production, 113 Forestry and Logging, and 114 Fishing, Hunting, and Trapping.)
Treatment of manufacturing services - the ASM List of Goods includes only goods, and excludes manufacturing services, even though some services are included by the United States Census Bureau in the Numerical List. For example, there is no Canadian equivalent to American class 3152111, Contract Receipts for Men's and Boys' tailored suits, coats, jackets, and vests. In Canada, such receipts would not be included in the product list but elsewhere on the Annual Survey of Manufactures' questionnaire.
In addition to these conceptual differences, there are additional differences between the two lists brought about by the different needs of statistical agencies in Canada and the United States. In certain areas, such as lumber, additional detail is required in Canada because of the volume of the goods produced and their importance to governments and the private sector. In these areas Canadian detail has been added. In other areas, such as broadwoven fabrics, detail has been eliminated because the product is not significant in Canada.