Glossary: D-G
Definitions of Intratec methodology and product terms from D to G.
D
- Data Gap
- The difference between the most recently completed month and the latest month carrying a Final value in a series; a zero-month gap means the series has Final data for the latest completed month. Lag varies by program — several months for statistics-based series, none for modeled Reference Datasets.
- Data Homogeneity
- The criterion confirming that a set of trade records all refer to the same assessment — the same commodity, similar specifications, and comparable trade conditions; established through a clustering algorithm before any Intratec trade-based price is calculated, and datasets without it are not used.
- Data Status Label
- The label attached to a published figure to show whether it is Final, Preliminary, or Forecast; in Intratec price assessments, status labels make the basis of each published value explicit at the point of reading.
- Ddp (Delivered Duty Paid)
- An Incoterm: the seller delivers goods cleared for import, with all costs and duties paid.
- Demand
- The total energy required in a country, calculated in the Energy Prices & Markets energy balance as Demand = Production + Imports − Exports − Stock Change; it covers energy for industrial, commercial, and residential needs, whether used in primary form or converted into fuels and electricity.
- Depreciation
- The allocation of industrial asset value over time; in Commodity Production Costs reports, depreciation is added to operating cash cost to calculate total operating cost.
- Diesel
- A middle-distillate fuel primarily used in diesel engines.
- Direct Costs
- Plant-construction costs that become part of the installed facility, including equipment and construction disciplines such as equipment setting, piping, civil works, steel, instrumentation, electrical work, insulation, and painting.
- Direct Pay
- The sum of Basic Wage and Premium Pay (overtime, bonuses, and direct allowances).
- Directional Accuracy (DA)
- The percentage of periods in which a price model correctly predicted the direction of price movement — rise or fall — relative to the prior period; one of the foundational metrics of Intratec model evaluation, particularly relevant where the trend matters as much as the level.
- Dominant Production Route
- The prevailing production technology assumed for a country when computing Feedstock-to-Product Margins in the Industry Economics & Competitiveness program (for example, gas-based versus coal-based methanol); because the route sets the relevant feedstock, the same commodity's margin can differ across countries.
- Dpu (Delivered At Place Unloaded)
- An Incoterm: the seller delivers goods unloaded at the named place of destination, bearing all transport and unloading costs; import clearance and duties remain with the buyer.
E
- Electricity
- An energy carrier generated from fossil fuels, renewables, or nuclear power; because it is produced by converting primary energy sources, it is classified as a secondary energy source. Essential for residential, industrial, and infrastructure applications.
- Electricity Generation
- The production of electricity from primary sources — fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, oil), renewables (hydro, wind, solar, geothermal, biomass), and nuclear power; reported by source in the Energy Prices & Markets program to show each fuel's share of a country's power mix.
- Energy Balance
- The accounting framework in the Energy Prices & Markets program that tracks a country's energy flows — production, imports, exports, stock changes, transformation, demand, and consumption — modeled per energy commodity as a system of linear equations so that published figures respect energy-conservation principles. Detailed in Energy Balance.
- Energy Prices & Markets
- The Intratec program that produces monthly, country-specific reports with energy price assessments, short-term price forecasts, market outlooks, and freight and insurance costs for essential energy commodities.
- Energy Pricing Component
- A 0–100 score of the relative price level of key industrial energy inputs (electricity, natural gas, and coal) — standardized to a common energy-content basis and normalized across the benchmarked countries in the Industry Economics & Competitiveness program — rather than an absolute cost figure.
- Energy Self-Sufficiency
- The extent to which a country meets its energy needs from domestic production, measured in the Energy Prices & Markets program as domestic energy production divided by total demand; a ratio above 100% indicates self-sufficiency, below 100% indicates import reliance. See how energy self-sufficiency is measured.
- Energy Transformation
- The conversion of a primary energy source into a secondary commodity through physical or chemical change, such as coke from coal or oil products from crude oil; in Energy Prices & Markets, electricity generation is handled through the separate Electricity and Heat Transformation flow when it applies.
- Exchange-Rate Volatility
- A component of the Macroeconomic Environment pillar in the Industry Economics & Competitiveness program, measuring the annualized volatility of a country's currency against the US dollar; lower volatility lowers hedging costs and exposure to currency shocks.
- Export Market Access
- The market-weighted average tariff a country's exporters face across trading partners; lower tariffs yield higher scores.
- Export Market Dispersion Index
- A measure of how geographically diversified a country's export destinations are; higher values indicate less dependence on a single trading partner.
F
- Feedstock-To-Product Margin
- The spread between feedstock costs and finished-product prices for a given commodity, measuring the economic return on industrial transformation.
- Final (Fi)
- Data status label for a settled value based on verified official data (the consolidated price); in Intratec price assessments, Final values replace Preliminary estimates once the underlying official statistics have arrived and been validated.
- Fixed Capital
- The depreciable portion of capital investment in Commodity Production Costs reports, including plant cost and owner's cost.
- Forecast (F)
- Data status label for a forward-looking model prediction in Intratec price assessments; unlike Preliminary values, Forecast values refer to future periods rather than closed periods waiting for official data.
- Formula-Based Price
- A price calculated as a function of related commodity prices, economic indicators, currency rates, and regression models; used in Intratec price assessments when direct market data for an assessment is unavailable or sparse.
- Freight-Based Price
- A price derived from another assessment by adding or subtracting maritime freight and insurance costs between two delivery points; Netback and Netforward prices are the two types produced in Intratec price assessments.
- Fuel Oil
- A heavy petroleum product used in power generation, marine engines, and industrial heating; a by-product of refining with high energy content.
- Functional Unit
- A significant process step in a Commodity Production Costs block flow diagram, grouping equipment and ancillaries that perform a particular operation such as reaction, distillation, or evaporation.
G
- Gaseous Biofuels
- Biofuels in gas form, such as biogas produced through anaerobic digestion of organic waste.
- Gasoline
- A refined petroleum product used in internal combustion engines, valued for its high energy content and efficiency.
- GDP (PPP)
- Gross Domestic Product adjusted for purchasing power parity, measuring a country's absolute economic scale.
- GDP Per Capita (PPP)
- Average economic output per person, adjusted for purchasing power parity, capturing consumer affluence.
- Geothermal Energy
- Heat harnessed from beneath the Earth's surface for electricity generation and direct heating.
- Global Mean
- The equal-weighted average across the benchmarked Universe of countries for a given Industry Economics & Competitiveness indicator or pillar; it corresponds to a normalized score of 50, so a country scoring above it is more competitive than the worldwide average on that dimension.
- Gross Domestic Savings
- A component of the Macroeconomic Environment pillar in the Industry Economics & Competitiveness program, measuring domestic savings as a percentage of GDP, indicating the local capacity to finance investment and absorb external funding shocks.
- Gross Fixed Capital Formation
- The level of ongoing investment in fixed assets, signaling infrastructure maintenance and expansion.
- Gross Outlier Removal
- The transaction-price filter that excludes trade prices deviating sharply from the median of comparable transactions, using Median Absolute Deviation to keep abnormal records from distorting Intratec trade-based price assessments.