Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union
1.2. Contact organisation unit
E1: Agriculture and fisheries
1.3. Contact name
Restricted from publication
1.4. Contact person function
Restricted from publication
1.5. Contact mail address
2920 Luxembourg, LUXEMBOURG
1.6. Contact email address
Restricted from publication
1.7. Contact phone number
Restricted from publication
1.8. Contact fax number
Restricted from publication
2.1. Metadata last certified
4 March 2024
2.2. Metadata last posted
4 March 2024
2.3. Metadata last update
4 March 2024
3.1. Data description
Crop Balances for cereals cover supply and use of the main cereals (common wheat & spelt, durum wheat, barley and grain maize & corn-cob-mix) in a reference area during a reference period. Crop Balances are also done for the main oilseeds (rape and turnip rape seeds, sunflower seed and soya) in an equivalent way. Those balance sheets constitute a synthesis of a large number of quantitative data available for agriculture, trade and food and other processing industry.
The Crop Balances are balanced when total supply equals total use. Total supply is defined as the sum of usable production, initial stocks and imports; total use as the sum of domestic use, final stocks and exports. Crop Balance data are used by the Commission, mainly DG Agriculture and Rural Development, for agricultural market management purposes. The national Crop Balances for main cereals and main oilseeds are complied by the Member States on the basis of common EU concepts.
The Crop Balances for the main crop products are an important tool to monitor the food security and the functioning of the crop product markets. The purpose of the supply balances is twofold: on the one side in the mean of the prediction (prospective) for the next harvest year and on the other side retrospective for the harvest year done.
Eurostat collects the final crop balances.
3.2. Classification system
Currently two Crop Balances are collected, namely the Crop Balances for main cereals and the Crop Balances for the main oilseeds.
The Crop Balances for cereals are drawn up for four types of main cereals:
common wheat (Triticum aestivum L. emend. Fiori et Paol.) and spelt (Triticum spelta L.),
durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.);
barley (Hordeum vulgare L.);
grain maize (Zea mays L.) and corn-cob-mix.
The Crop Balances for oil seeds are drawn up for three types of oilseeds:
rape and turnip rape seeds (Brassica napus L. and Brassica rapa L. var. oleifera (Lam.));
sunflower seed (Helianthus annus L.);
soya (Glycine max (L.) Merril).
For each of those agricultural commodities the final Crop Balance sheet has in principle the same structure. For a balanced sheet, 'supply' equals 'use'.
On the supply side we have: Opening stock (1st January year n), Usable Production and Imports.
On the use side we have: Domestic use, Exports and the Closing stock (31st December year n).
For the geographical classification the country codes as defined in ISO 3166 are used.
3.3. Coverage - sector
Agricultural sector. In the Crop Balances data are brought together from agricultural statistics and trade statistics.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
Opening stock (or initial stock or beginning stock) is defined as all cereals (in grain equivalent) or oilseeds (in grain equivalent) available on the farm or on the market at the beginning of the calendar year (1st January year n).
For Imports/Exports the definitions from trade statistics are taken.
Closing stock (or final stock or ending stock) is defined as all cereals (in grain equivalent) or all oilseeds (in grain equivalent) available the stock at the end of the calendar year (31st December year n) which is equal to the initial stock of the next reference period.
‘Domestic use’ includes all possible uses of cereals or oilseeds (excluding exports and closing stock) in the reference area during the reference period.
3.5. Statistical unit
Crop balances for a crop product at country level (NUTS0).
3.6. Statistical population
Crop balances for all crop products.
3.7. Reference area
Data are provided by countries which signed the ESS Agreement from 2017 on "Crop Balance Data on Main Cereals and Oilseeds" (BG, IE, EL, IT, LV, LT, LU, HU, PL, RO, SI, SK, FI) and on a voluntary basis DE, EE, HR, PT and TR are also covered.
The Crop Balance data are compiled for the customs territory of the reporting countries, defined in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 laying down the Union Customs Code).
3.8. Coverage - Time
Data are available from 2017 onwards.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
All items in the Crop Balance for main cereals must be established in thousands of metric tonnes (1000 t) in the EU standard humidity, which is: 14% for cereals, 9% for rape and turnip rape, 9% for sunflower seeds and 14% for soya seed.
In order to be included in the balance, processed products are quantified in terms of grain equivalent. Their weight is converted into grain weight necessary for their production by using technical coefficients. A list of processed products and technical coefficients for conversion into grain weight is given in Annex A in the Crop balances Handbook_2023 edition (see Annex).
The reference period for both cereals and oilseeds Crop Balances is a calendar year: 1st January – 31st December.
The first reference period for this time series was 2017.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
From reference year 2017 onwards, data are provided based on an ESS agreement on Crop balances endorsed by European Statistical System Committee in its 34th meeting on 22 September 2017.
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
Not applicable.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
Most data for Crop Balances are not confidential. Confidentiality issues are treated individually with the respective reporting countries due to very small number of cases. These data are not disseminated and flagged with ‘c’ on Eurostat's database.
8.1. Release calendar
There is no fixed release calendar. Data are disseminated as soon as they are available (the deadline for data transmission is provided in the ESS agreement on Crop balances) and after validation.
The Crop Balance statistics can be found in Eurobase under Agriculture. In Eurostat's dissemination database, the cereals balance data set is published under 'Agriculture / Crops / Crop balance sheets' under the name apro_cbs_cer and the oilseed balance data set is published under the name apro_cbs_oil.
10.4. Dissemination format - microdata access
Not applicable.
10.5. Dissemination format - other
Not applicable.
10.6. Documentation on methodology
The Crop balances Handbook_2023 edition (see Annex) gives a summary of the methodologies used for compilation of crop balances.
The ‘ESS Agreement on Crop Balances’ requires that countries transmit a quality report to Eurostat every three years. The first delivery deadline was 30 November 2018, the second on 30 November 2021 and the third delivery is due on 30 November 2024.
The ‘Crop balances Handbook_2023 edition’ (see Annex) gives guidance on the methodology for collecting data on crop balances.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
Eurostat monitors regularly the quality of Crop Balance statistics. In general, the availability, completeness and punctuality are good, although the overall assessment of the data quality is very difficult since there might be a certain heterogeneity in practices in the reporting countries and because data are not provided for all countries. However, for the data derived from 'Annual Crop Production Statistics' (crop production figures) and 'Trade in Goods Statistics' (imports/exports) the quality is very good. The quality of data on stocks and domestic use depends on the data sources and assumptions made, as well as the availability and quality of underlying data.
Crop Balance data are used by the European Commission, mainly by DG Agriculture and Rural Development for different purposes, like market analysis, information for specialists and the general public, forecasts, decisions on production, internal and external trade, methodology, etc.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
No official user satisfaction has been carried out. Feedback is received during informal contacts with users.
12.3. Completeness
Due to the fact that not all EU Member States signed the ESS agreement on Crop balances, a European aggregate and EU crop balance can not be calculated. Therefore, only national data are currently available.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
The overall accuracy for the final data which can be cross checked with data from annual crop statistics and trade statistics is very good.
The estimation of stocks is very difficult. The estimations for domestic use are often based on modelling and therefore the accuracy strongly depends on those models.
In line with the above mentioned agreement data for the reference year n shall be transmitted to Eurostat by 30th November n+1.
Quality reports shall be submitted every three years by 30th November (see concept 11.1).
14.2. Punctuality
Most data deliveries are on time. Most of the delayed data transmissions are late by some days only.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
The geographical comparability for production and trade figures is good. For domestic use and stocks further analysis would be required because different methodologies are applied to estimate the related balance items.
15.2. Comparability - over time
Data for Crop Balances are collected since reference year 2017. No major comparability issues have been reported for the countries that signed the ESS agreement on Crop balances.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Cross domain validation is possible with two other statistical domains:
Since the data are supplied by the Member States and other reporting countries, they conduct the necessary checks before the data are sent to Eurostat.
At Eurostat additional data validation is performed to eliminate possible consistency errors.
Cost and burden are mainly related to the compilation of the balances. The data are collected by the Member States and other reporting countries mainly by using surveys, administrative data sources and expert estimates. The exact cost of the data collection is not known by Eurostat.
The data are transmitted on dates stipulated by the ESS agreement on Crop Balances (see 14.1), i.e. on the 30th November n+1 for the reference year n.
Data revisions or updates of the quality reports can be sent at any time.
All reported errors (once validated) result in corrections of the disseminated data.
Reported errors are corrected in the disseminated data as soon as the correct data have been validated.
Data may be published even if data set is not complete and some data are missing for certain countries. They are replaced with final data once they are transmitted and validated.
Whenever new data are provided and validated, the already disseminated data are updated.
18.1. Source data
Surveys, administrative data and estimates based on expert observations are the main data sources. The sources are not the same for every Member State but are adapted to national conditions and statistical practices.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Data is collected annually, quality reports triennially (see 14.1 'Timeliness').
18.3. Data collection
The Crop Balance data are collected by the National Statistical Institutes and/or Ministries of Agriculture by using several statistical methods:
census
sample surveys
administrative sources
expert estimates
agro-economic models
Most often a combination of several methods is used.
The Member States that signed the ESS agreement on Crop Balances are required to send the final Crop Balance data via the single entry point eDamis to Eurostat.
18.4. Data validation
The Member States are responsible for checking and validating the data before the submission to Eurostat. Validation at Eurostat level concerns transmission errors and data consistency.
18.5. Data compilation
The Member States send the national data to Eurostat. Due to the fact that not all EU Member States signed the ESS agreement on Crop balances and therefore some country data are missing, an aggregated crop balance for the EU cannot be calculated yet.
Crop Balances for cereals cover supply and use of the main cereals (common wheat & spelt, durum wheat, barley and grain maize & corn-cob-mix) in a reference area during a reference period. Crop Balances are also done for the main oilseeds (rape and turnip rape seeds, sunflower seed and soya) in an equivalent way. Those balance sheets constitute a synthesis of a large number of quantitative data available for agriculture, trade and food and other processing industry.
The Crop Balances are balanced when total supply equals total use. Total supply is defined as the sum of usable production, initial stocks and imports; total use as the sum of domestic use, final stocks and exports. Crop Balance data are used by the Commission, mainly DG Agriculture and Rural Development, for agricultural market management purposes. The national Crop Balances for main cereals and main oilseeds are complied by the Member States on the basis of common EU concepts.
The Crop Balances for the main crop products are an important tool to monitor the food security and the functioning of the crop product markets. The purpose of the supply balances is twofold: on the one side in the mean of the prediction (prospective) for the next harvest year and on the other side retrospective for the harvest year done.
Eurostat collects the final crop balances.
4 March 2024
Opening stock (or initial stock or beginning stock) is defined as all cereals (in grain equivalent) or oilseeds (in grain equivalent) available on the farm or on the market at the beginning of the calendar year (1st January year n).
For Imports/Exports the definitions from trade statistics are taken.
Closing stock (or final stock or ending stock) is defined as all cereals (in grain equivalent) or all oilseeds (in grain equivalent) available the stock at the end of the calendar year (31st December year n) which is equal to the initial stock of the next reference period.
‘Domestic use’ includes all possible uses of cereals or oilseeds (excluding exports and closing stock) in the reference area during the reference period.
Crop balances for a crop product at country level (NUTS0).
Crop balances for all crop products.
Data are provided by countries which signed the ESS Agreement from 2017 on "Crop Balance Data on Main Cereals and Oilseeds" (BG, IE, EL, IT, LV, LT, LU, HU, PL, RO, SI, SK, FI) and on a voluntary basis DE, EE, HR, PT and TR are also covered.
The Crop Balance data are compiled for the customs territory of the reporting countries, defined in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 laying down the Union Customs Code).
The reference period for both cereals and oilseeds Crop Balances is a calendar year: 1st January – 31st December.
The first reference period for this time series was 2017.
The overall accuracy for the final data which can be cross checked with data from annual crop statistics and trade statistics is very good.
The estimation of stocks is very difficult. The estimations for domestic use are often based on modelling and therefore the accuracy strongly depends on those models.
All items in the Crop Balance for main cereals must be established in thousands of metric tonnes (1000 t) in the EU standard humidity, which is: 14% for cereals, 9% for rape and turnip rape, 9% for sunflower seeds and 14% for soya seed.
In order to be included in the balance, processed products are quantified in terms of grain equivalent. Their weight is converted into grain weight necessary for their production by using technical coefficients. A list of processed products and technical coefficients for conversion into grain weight is given in Annex A in the Crop balances Handbook_2023 edition (see Annex).
The Member States send the national data to Eurostat. Due to the fact that not all EU Member States signed the ESS agreement on Crop balances and therefore some country data are missing, an aggregated crop balance for the EU cannot be calculated yet.
Surveys, administrative data and estimates based on expert observations are the main data sources. The sources are not the same for every Member State but are adapted to national conditions and statistical practices.
Data are disseminated annually as soon as they are available and after validation.
In line with the above mentioned agreement data for the reference year n shall be transmitted to Eurostat by 30th November n+1.
Quality reports shall be submitted every three years by 30th November (see concept 11.1).
The geographical comparability for production and trade figures is good. For domestic use and stocks further analysis would be required because different methodologies are applied to estimate the related balance items.
Data for Crop Balances are collected since reference year 2017. No major comparability issues have been reported for the countries that signed the ESS agreement on Crop balances.
