Documentation of statistics Balance Sheet for Food Commodities

Data description

The Balance Sheet for Food Commodities is a total calculation for Finland compiled in the form of a balance sheet. It shows the domestic production and use, changes in stocks, and exports and imports of the country's most important food commodity groupings. Domestic use is subdivided into animal feed, seed use, industrial raw materials and use as food. Figures for annual per capita consumption are calculated on the basis of food products purchased for use as food.

The balance sheet for food commodities follows the classifications of FAO. The balance sheet follows the course of food commodities from production to consumption and is a way to calculate the consumption of food commodities.

Classification system

The balance sheet for food commodities includes food commodities from 12 groups (cereals, potato, sugar, legumes, vegetables, fruits, meat, eggs, fish, milk products, fats, and beverages). Some of the 60 included food commodities are presented by production, changes in stock, export, import, domestic use, animal feed, seed use, industrial raw materials and use as food.

Sector coverage

The statistics include all primary food commodities.

Statistical concepts and definitions

Food (gross) is the use of cereals for food, calculated as grain weight.

Food (net) is the use of cereals for food, calculated as flour weight.

Consumption of cereals per capita is given converted into flour weight.

Meat is given in bone-in meat (carcass meat), which includes bones, connective tissues, tendons, and ligaments. Bone-in meat contains approximately 80% of boneless meat. Cooking loss ranges between 10% and 30%, depending on the product. The volume of cooked meat eaten is approximately 50% of the volume of bone-in meat.

Fish consumption is calculated and reported for fresh and frozen fish and processed fish either as gutted fish, gutted fillets or in product weight.

Consumption of food commodities per capita is calculated by dividing the net-consumption of food commodities by the average population of the statistical year.

Statistical unit

The balance sheet compiles the domestic use of major food commodities in total and per capita. Data is collected from multiple sources, the most important of which are the agricultural statistics by the Natural Resource Institute Finland and the statistics on international trade by the Finnish Customs. 

Statistical population

The Balance Sheet for Food Commodities is a total calculation for Finland compiled in the form of a balance sheet.

Unit of measure 

Production, international trade, and domestic use: millions of kilogrammes; consumption per capita: kilogrammes

Reference period

Calendar year

Frequency of disseminations

Yearly

The statistics are compiled based on the Act on the Natural Resources Institute Finland (561/2014), the Act on Food and Natural Resource Statistics (562/2014), and the Statistics Act (280/2004). 

More information: Statistics legislation

Confidentiality - policy

Confidentiality is a base principle of statistics and assures the confidential processing of data provided by informants, and the Natural Resources Institute Finland has undertaken to follow this principle. Micro-data is confidential and must never be released for administrative decision-making, investigation, surveillance, legal proceedings, or similar purposes. 

Confidentiality - data treatment

The confidentiality of data collected for statistical purposes is guaranteed according to the Statistics Act (280/2004), the Personal Data Act (523/1999), the Act on the Openness of Government Activities (621/1999), and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (2016/679). Data is protected at all stages of processing using the necessary physical and technological solutions. The staff only has access to information necessary for their duties. Unauthorised people do not have access to spaces in which micro-data is processed. Staff members have signed a non-disclosure agreement when entering duty. Intentional breach of confidentiality will be penalised. 

More information: Privacy policy – Statistics

The disseminations of the Natural Resources Institute Finland are published online on weekdays at 9:00.  Data is public after it has been published on the website.

Release calendar

The publication dates are confirmed in autumn together with the action plans. The release calendar of the following year is published for users in the end of the year. The release calendar holds data on the dates of future publications. The calendar also contains direct links to already published statistical publication.

Release calendar access

Statistical releases calendar | Natural Resources Institute Finland

Quality assurance

The Natural Resources Institute Finland follows the Code of Practice and the Quality Assurance Framework of European statistics when compiling statistics. The Code of Practice concern the independence and accountability of statistics authorities, and the quality of processes and published data. The principles are compatible with and supplement the Principles of Official Statistics, agreed upon by the United Nations Statistical Commission. The quality criteria of official statistics in Finland are also compatible with the Code of Practice of European statistics. The principles are also compatible with the European Foundation for Quality Management. 

Quality assessment

The quality of the statistics used as source data best describes the quality of the balance sheet. Most of the statistics used as data sources are a part of the Official Statistics of Finland. The production volumes of some food commodities are collected from producers or other operators in the food commodity industry. The quality of this data is difficult to estimate.

User needs

Users of the statistics include the government, research, and the media.

Overall accuracy and reliability

Due to the methodology of compiling the statistics, food consumption volumes calculated based on the balance sheets are not accurate. They describe the volume available for consumption more than the actual consumption, as volumes of stock loss and other waste is not available and is included in consumption volumes. The consumption figures of some products, i.e., vegetables, are only estimates using this method of compiling statistics. However, the balance sheets for food commodities can be used to monitor consumer trends over a large time period, as the methodology of compiling the balance sheet and the data sources have remained nearly unchanged over the years. 

Timeliness

Preliminary statistics are published in June following the statistical year. Final statistics are published a year later together with the next year’s preliminary statistics.

Comparability - over time

Information in the time series presented on the statistics home page is mostly comparable. Changes affecting comparability are mentioned in the references of the time series table.

Balance sheets for food commodities have been compiled since the year 1949/50. Until 1968/69 data in the balance sheet represented the harvest year (1.7.–30.6.) Since 1970, the reference period has been a calendar year.

The products recorded in the statistics have slightly changed since the early years of recording statistics, as the product selection has expanded. Some products have been excluded from the statistics in the recent years, due to not having enough data to compile statistics.

Coherence - cross domain

The balance sheet for food commodities data on grain describe the same topic as the Natural Resources Institute Finland Cereals Balance Sheet.  The primary purpose of the balance sheet for food commodities is to measure consumption, whereas the primary purpose of the cereals balance sheet is to describe the balance of production and consumption. Foreign trade data in the balance sheet for food commodities includes grain products in addition to raw grain. The statistical period of the balance sheet for food commodities is a calendar year, whereas the statistical period of the cereals balance sheet is a harvest year. The cereals balance sheet is used as a data source for the balance sheet for food commodities.

The Natural Resources Institute Finland fish consumption statistics gives information on domestic fish by species, origin, and information on imported fish by species. Fish consumption in the balance sheet for food commodities is given with the following classifications: fresh or frozen fish; smoked, salted, or dried fish; canned fish, and molluscs and crustaceans.

Source data

• Following statistics of the Natural Resources Institute Finland: 
  Crop production statistics (OSF), Cereals Balance Sheet, industrial and commercial statistics on cereals purchased, used and stockpiled (OSF), statistics on crop use on farms (OSF), potato storage statistics, horticultural statistics (OSF), milk and milk product statistics (OSF), meat production statistics (OSF), egg production statistics (OSF), hunting statistics (OSF), fish consumption statistics
• Statistics on international trade by the Finnish Customs (OSF)
• Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare statistics (alcohol) (OSF)
• Statistics Finland Household Budget Survey, from which the consumption of berries and potatoes per capita per year
• Production volumes of sugar, potato flour, honey, reindeer meat, soy feed, and an estimate of the apple yield of household gardens is asked for directly from producers or other operators in the food product industry. 

Frequency of data collection

Yearly

Data collection

The balance sheet for food commodities compiles needed data from other statistics, and the production volumes of a few food commodities are collected directly from producers or other operators in the field.

Data validation

Numbers compiled from statistics used as source data and the results of the balance sheet for food commodities are compared to results and balance sheets from previous years. The authenticity of source data is investigated for abnormal observations.

Data compilation

The consumption volumes of most food commodities in the balance sheet for food commodities are calculated starting from the production statistics. Domestic consumption is calculated by subtracting export from domestic production and then adding import. Additionally, changes to stock volumes are taken into account for food commodities stock volumes are recorded for. When industrial, seed, and feed use is subtracted from domestic use, the remaining figure consists of food use and waste. The production of some products is estimated starting from the consumption. In these cases, domestic consumption is a sum of food, food commodities industry, other industrial, seed, and feed uses. 

The net consumption of food is equal to the gross consumption of food in all products, except for cereals. The gross consumption of cereals is given in grain weight, whereas net consumption is given in flour weight. The flour weights of cereals are calculated based on their grain weight. The next milling yield percentages are used for calculations: wheat 75%, rye 98%, other bread grain 98%, barley 75%, and oats 60%. The consumption of food commodities per capita is calculated by dividing the net consumption of food with the average population of the statistical year.

The consumption of most food commodities included in the balance sheet for food commodities is measured as raw materials. Foreign trade numbers can be used to calculate some raw materials in food commodity products.

Meat is measured as bone-in meat (carcass meat) in the balance sheet. The stock and foreign trade volumes of meat are converted to carcass meat volumes using factors.