Attachment 25b - IPP Refusal Insignificant Trade

OMB No. 1220-0025

IPP Refusal Letter – Insignificant Trade

September 17, 2024

«RespFirst» «RespLast»

«RespTitle»

«Company»

«Street»

«City», «State» «Zip»

Dear «RespFirst» «RespLast»:

Recently «FE_FirstName» «FE_LastName» of my staff contacted your company to obtain data on your «imported/exported/imported and exported» products for the U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes (MXP) published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). I understand that you believe that your company does not have a significant enough volume of trade in the sampled «category/categories» to be valuable to this national publication.

I would like to emphasize the importance of including companies with all levels of trade in the MXP. Your firm’s trade may exemplify a product type or price trend that may not otherwise be represented in the indexes. In addition, the trade sampled for your company represents activity in similar product areas for other companies that may not have been selected. For our sampling process to remain statistically valid, we cannot replace your company with another business.

We respect the value of your time and will limit our request accordingly. We can work with existing company records to obtain information, so that you do not need to create any special reports. We also will work with you or a staff member regarding the specific products selected to represent your firm’s trade in the MXP.

Your participation is confidential.  We do not reveal actual company names or prices in our published indexes.

I urge you to reconsider your company’s decision about providing data for the MXP. Should you have additional concerns that I have not addressed, please contact «FE_FirstName» «FE_LastName» at «FE_Tel». Otherwise, the Field Economist will call you soon to discuss your participation in this program.  We look forward to working with you.

Sincerely yours,

NAME

«Title»

Enclosure

«Enclosure_Name»

www.bls.gov/mxp/