Relevance of statistical information

The Balance Sheet for Food Commodities is a total calculation concerning Finland, compiled in the form of a balance sheet in accordance with the classification of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). It starts with the production of food commodities and ends with their consumption. Calculations are performed every year to illustrate the production of various food commodities, changes in their stocks, their imports and exports, as well as their domestic use. Domestic use is subdivided into seed use (cereals), feed use, use in the food industry and non food industry and, as the last item, consumption (gross and net consumption of food). The balance sheet aims, on the one hand, to trace the movement of food from production to consumption, and on the other, to assess consumption, in case it is not recorded in consumption statistics. The data included in the Balance Sheet for Food Commodities are used, inter alia, for the following purposes: FAO’s Food Balance Sheets, OECD’s consumption statistics, joint Nordic projects, and for a total calculation of agriculture, various consumption and production statistics, forecasts and emergency supply calculations in Finland.

The Balance Sheet for Food Commodities comprises 11 food product groups (cereals, potatoes, sugar, legumes, vegetables, fruit and berries, meat, eggs, fish, dairy products, fats) as well as beverages. The groups are subdivided into individual products. In 2008, there were 73 such products. The balance sheet is divided into a macro level and a micro level. The macro level presents figures for the whole country (millions of kg). The micro level presents figures for annual and daily average food consumption per capita (kg/year, g/day) in Finland. The micro level also presents the caloric value, and the protein, fat and carbohydrate contents of foods. 

The Balance Sheet for Food Commodities is mainly compiled by collating data from the national statistics of the Information Centre of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (Tike), the Finnish Food and Drink Industries’ Federation, the National Board of Customs and the Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute. The fact that Tike produces statistics is based on the Act on the Information Centre of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (1200/1992), the Act on Rural Industry Statistics   (1197/1996) and the Statistics Act (280/2004).

Methodological description

The Balance Sheet for Food Commodities is a total calculation, the data for which are gathered from various sources of information. The main sources are Tike’s production and harvest statistics and farm surveys, the domestic sales statistics of the Finnish Food and Drink Industries’ Federation, the foreign trade statistics of the National Board of Customs, as well as the statistics of the Game and Fisheries Research Institute. Calculation of the quantities of food commodities consumed is mainly based on production statistics on food commodities. Domestic use is calculated by deducting exports from domestic production, after which imports are added.  In addition, changes in stocks of food commodities are taken into account in those commodities for which such information is available. For some products, production is estimated starting with consumption. In that case domestic use is obtained as a sum of food use, use in the food industry, use in the non food industry, seed use and feed use. The net consumption of food is the same as the gross consumption of food for all products other than cereals, for which the gross consumption is expressed as grain weight and the net consumption as flour weight. The per capita consumption of food commodities is obtained by dividing the net consumption of food commodities by the average population of the year under review.

Correctness and accuracy of data

The coverage of the Balance Sheet for Food Commodities depends on the data currently available. The produce from kitchen gardens, the use of wild berries and mushrooms and the consumption of vegetable oils, among others, can only be estimated to a certain extent. Due to the way the Balance Sheets for Food Commodities are prepared, they do not give exact figures for the quantities of food consumed.  In the statistics, food wastage and cultivation for own use, for example, have to be based on estimates. However, trends in consumption of various food commodities can be monitored over long periods of time with the aid of the Balance Sheets for Food Commodities, because the method of calculation and the sources of information remain nearly unchanged from one year to the next.

Timeliness and promptness of data

As regards the data for 2007, the Balance Sheet for Food Commodities is complete. The Balance Sheet for Food Commodities 2008 is preliminary.  The final Balance Sheet for Food Commodities 2008 will be completed in June 201

Accessibility of data

The data are published annually in the publication Balance Sheet for Food Commodities. In addition to tables, the Balance Sheet contains a short summary of the results of the newest Balance Sheet for Food Commodities and graphical representations. At the end of the publication, the per capita consumption of food commodities is presented as a time series starting from the year 1998. The publication is published in two languages, Finnish and English. The data of the Balance Sheet for Food Commodities is also published annually in the Yearbook of Farm Statistics. Balance sheets for food commodities have been published since the year 1949/50. Until 1994, they were compiled by the Finnish Agricultural Economics Research Institute.

Comparability of statistics

The data concerning the time series included in the publication are mainly comparable. The changes affecting comparability have been listed in the references of the time series table. Until the year 1968/69, the data included in the Balance Sheet concerned the crop year (1 July – 30 June). Since the year 1970, the calendar year has been used as a reference period.

Updated 18 Dec 2009

Updated

18.12.2009