Statistical processing

Source data

Data input are collected from a wide range of sources. The main sources of The Utilization of cereals are:

Sample surveys: the annual harvest survey, Harvest of Cereals etc., the annual farm structural survey, Agricultural and Horticultural Survey, the external trade, International trade in Goods, the annual surveys of stocks on farms that is part of the table KORN2: Stock and turnover of cereals

Census: the annual survey of flour producers that is included in The Utilization of cereals under the type Grinding for flour, groats etc. This survey is not published as an independent statistic, the annual stock at cereal trading companies that is part of the table KORN2: Stock and turnover of cereals

Frequency of data collection

The are differences in the frequency of the collection of data to this statistics.
The survey at flour producers, stocks at farms and cereal trading companies and the foreign trade are collected biannual whereas data on harvest is collected once a year.

Data collection

The data collection methods involved in The utilization of cereals are multiple. Most of the data collection is by means of web questionnaires or other digital upload solutions.

Data validation

Different methods are used to check to incoming data.

The stock of cereals at farms are compared with information about their cultivated area with cereals. Other than that, the stock of cereals is compared to the number of pigs on the farm because pig farms most often have large amounts of cereals in stock. This information helps to prove small or large amounts of cereals in stock. Regarding stock of cereals at cereal trading companies, data is compared to data from the same period last year. Moreover the size of the harvest has a large influence on the amount of stocks of cereals. The production of flour is a census so if data is missing or very different from previous years, we contact the reporting company to have the data validated.

The harvest of cereals etc. and international trade in goods are validated in other statistics so information can be found here: Harvest of cereals etc and International trade in goods

Data compilation

There are differences in how data are validated. Data on flour production and stocks of cereals at trading companies are censuses so when data is checked, it is aggregated. The harvest of cereals and amounts from the international trade of goods is validated in other statistics and information is used from there.

The stock of cereals at farms are raised to the total population by using the total cultivated area with cereals which is already known from the IACS. The loss is about 1 per cent.

Adjustment

Corrections are made on an ongoing basis because of updates in the harvest data and international trade in goods. The statistics is preliminary until 2 years after it has been published for the first time.