Cereal and oilseed rape harvest: Methodology

Relevance

Relevance is about making sure our statistics meet the needs of users.

User Need

Cereal and oilseed rape estimates are produced for a wide range of purposes. The statistics help the government to form, monitor and evaluate policy, and to assess the economic well-being of the sector.

The production estimates feed into the UK cereals balance sheet, which is published by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) and provides an independent, unbiased, timely and comprehensive picture of the supply and demand position of the UK cereal market. The balance sheet is also the prime tool for tracking new developments in the UK cereals industry and determining their impact on the market. The balance sheet is widely used by policy makers, the EU Commission and the wider cereals industry. 

First estimates are timed to produce official provisional UK estimates for wheat and barley production which are published by Defra. These figures feed into the AHDB Early Balance Sheets.

Cereal and oilseed rape estimates data are important trade statistics and are combined with data from across the UK to provide information to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the International Grains Council (IGC).

Final estimates are timed to coincide with the earliest opportunity to provide final estimates at the end of the Scottish harvest period and to ensure that data can be provided to meet regulatory timeframes.

Regional estimates are estimated using internationally comparable regional geography. These data are published at International Territorial Level 2. In January 2018 these areas were revised. This means that from 2018 Scotland is broken down into five regions, rather than four regions. More information can be found on the Eurostat website.