Background Notes

Supply balances

The objective of a supply balance is to reconcile the total supplies with the various uses of a product taking into account changes in stock levels.

Supply balance sheets are compiled on the basis of harmonised concepts agreed between the European Union countries.

For cereals, the marketing year is from 1 July to 30 June of the following year and this period is also the reference year for the supply balance.

Data sources   

Usable production equates to the crop area multiplied by the green crop yield.  For the crop year 2011/2012 usable production relates to the crop that was harvested in the Autumn of 2011.  This harvested crop would be used in the marketing year 2011/2012.

Since the 2008/2009 crop year  production figures are based on estimates of area under crops data obtained from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) Single Payment Scheme and consequently represent a new series as these estimates were previously sourced from the CSO June sample survey of agricultural holdings.

The estimates for imports and exports of cereals are obtained from CSO foreign trade statistics.  The trade data used also includes processed products, such as flour and biscuits.  They are expressed in base product equivalent weight e.g. cereal products have been converted into raw cereal equivalent weight.

Variation in stocks is the net difference between movement of product into stocks and out of stocks in the course of the year.

The per capita consumption estimates given for human consumption were derived by dividing the consumption figure by the population on 1 April of each year.

Seeds represent the amounts of certified and uncertified crop seed planted for the next harvest year.  This estimate is calculated by applying a seeding rate to the crop area estimate of the following year.

Green yields have been adjusted by a drying loss to convert the crop to a dry basis. This drying loss percentage is obtained annually for each crop from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.  Any grain wastage during this process is also included under losses.

Industrial uses represent the quantities of cereals used in the brewing and distilling industries.

Self-sufficiency

Self-sufficiency is defined as usable production expressed as a percentage of domestic uses.

Balancing residual

By definition one item in each product balance is calculated as a balancing residual.  The balancing item in this publication is feeding stuffs.

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