Food statistics, situation reports and crop forecasts
Food balance sheets
Statistics on food production and consumption
Authors:
; FAO
Publisher:
Faostat, FAO, 2001
Statistical collection of national level food data. A food balance sheet presents a comprehensive picture of the pattern of a country's food supply during a specified reference period. The total quantity of foodstuffs produced in a country, added to the total quantity imported and adjusted to any change in stocks that may have occurred since the beginning of the reference period, gives the supply available during that period. On the utilization side, a distinction is made between the quantities exported, fed to livestock, used for seed, processed for food use and non-food uses, lost during storage and transportation, and food supplies available for human consumption. The per caput supply of each food item available for human consumption is then calculated by dividing the respective quantity by the related data on the population actually consuming it; that is the meaning of the term- per caput. Data on per caput food supplies are expressed in terms of quantity and also - by applying appropriate food composition factors for all primary and processed products - in terms of caloric value, protein and fat.
Website allows access to data by country and product group for each year since 1961 (where data is available)
