EARTHTRENDS DATA TABLES For more information, please consult http://earthtrends.wri.org TECHNICAL NOTES: AGRICULTURAL IMPORTS VARIABLE DEFINITIONS AND METHODOLOGY: Due to volatility in agricultural markets and yields, the data are reported here as the average value for three years. These averages are calculated by WRI. Agricultural Imports as a Percent of Total Merchandise Imports represents the value of the agricultural products imported as a percent of the total merchandise entering a given country's borders. WRI calculates Agricultural Imports as a Percent of Total Merchandise Imports as the sum of two datasets obtained from The World Bank - food products imports as a percentage of total merchandise imports and raw agricultural products imports as a percentage of total merchandise imports. The World Bank collects these data using customs receipts reports from country governments. Categorized according to Standard International Trade Classification (SITC), the World Bank defines agricultural raw materials as the commodities compromising SITC section 2 (crude materials except fuels), excluding divisions 22, 27 (crude fertilizers and minerals excluding coal, petroleum, and precious stones), and 28 (metalliferous ores and scrap). Included in section 2 are untreated hides, cork, wood, pulp and waste paper, and crude animal and vegetable products. The World Bank defines food products as the commodities of Sections 0 (food and animal), 1 (beverages and tobacco), and 4 (animal and vegetable oils and fats) as well as Division 22 (oil seeds, oil nuts, and oil kernels). Merchandise trade is generally categorized using Standard International Trade Classification (SITC) Revision 1 standard, though most countries now report using later revisions of the SITC or the Harmonized System. Though concordance tables are used to convert data reported in one system of nomenclature to another, this may cause some discrepancies in data. The value of imports is recorded as the cost of the goods when purchased by the importing country, plus the cost of transport and insurance; cost, insurance, and freight (c.i.f.). For a full description of SITC classification see http://unstats.un.org/unsd/cr/registry/regcst.asp?Cl=14. Percent of GDP from Agriculture measures the percent of total output of goods and services which are a result of value added by the agriculture sector. Value added is the net output of a sector after adding up all outputs and subtracting intermediate inputs. It is calculated without making deductions for depreciation of fabricated assets or depletion and degradation of natural resources. The industrial origin of value added is determined by the International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC) revision 3. Agriculture corresponds to ISIC divisions 1-5 and includes forestry and fishing. These data are estimated by the World Bank. Cereals Imports and Pulses Imports refer to the total amount of these commodities entering a country or region's borders for a given year. Cereals include wheat, barley, maize, rye, oats, millet, sorghum, rice, buckwheat, alpiste/canary seed, fonio, quinoa, triticale, wheat flour, and the cereal component of blended foods. Cereal crops harvested for hay; harvested green for food, feed or silage; or used for grazing are excluded. Mixed grains and buckwheat are included. Pulses include all kinds of dried (including split) leguminous vegetables, with the exception of vetches and lupins, which are considered feedstuff for animals. Values are presented here in both thousands of US dollars and thousands of metric tons. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) collects the most complete and reliable data on agricultural trade available. In general, trade data have been supplied by governments through magnetic tapes, national publications, and most frequently, FAO questionnaires. For European community countries, with the exception of Spain, data obtained from EUROSTAT have been used. Magnetic tapes containing trade data were also provided by the United Nations Statistical Division. To make the dataset as complete as possible, official trade data have sometimes been supplemented with data from unofficial sources. Use has also been made of trade information supplied by other national or international agencies or organizations. Percent change is calculated by WRI. Coffee Imports is the total volume of coffee, in Green Bean Equivalent (GBE), imported annually from a country. Green Bean Equivalent (GBE) is used to convert roasted coffee into green bean weight, where 1 pound roasted coffee equals 1.19 pounds green coffee. WRI obtains the volume of coffee imported into a country from the International Coffee Organization (ICO) in units of 60 kilogram bags and converts them to metric tons. These data are for member and non-member countries. The ICO gathers data from member and non-member countries on imports, exports, and internal consumption by exporting countries. Estimates are provided by member countries for the current crop year and revised on a quarterly basis. After the end of the crop year, estimates are replaced by derived production. In the absence of member provided estimates, alternative sources are used. These sources may include the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), F.O. Licht and LMC International. FREQUENCY OF UPDATE BY DATA PROVIDERS: The World Bank updates its data on percent of merchandise trade and GDP from agriculture annually in April as a part of its World Development Indicators publication. Data on imports of cereals and pulses are updated annually by the FAO. Data on coffee imports are also updated annually by the ICO. DATA RELIABILITY AND CAUTIONARY NOTES: Agricultural Imports as a Percent of Total Merchandise Imports Discrepancies in World Bank import data may occur for several reasons. There is no single source for this data and therefore no way to ensure that the data are fully consistent. Differences in collection methods--such as in timing, definitions in residence and ownership, and the exchange rate used to value transactions--contribute to net errors and omissions. Percent of GDP from Agriculture While the World Bank’s data on agriculture as a percent of GDP is generally considered to be the most reliable estimates available, some inconsistencies may remain. Informal economic activities sometimes pose a measurement problem, especially in developing countries, where much economic activity may go unrecorded. Obtaining a complete picture of the economy requires estimating household outputs produced for local sale and home use, barter exchanges, and illicit or deliberately unreported activity. How consistent and complete such estimates will be depends on the skill and methods of the compiling statisticians and the resources available to them. Cereals Imports and Pulses Imports Agricultural data on trade reported to FAO are governed by established accounting practices and are therefore generally considered to be reliable. However, countries vary in the quality of data they have available to report. In addition, problems arise in compiling these data into internationally comparable agricultural statistics and in estimating data that are missing. Each variable in FAO's database can have as many as 30,000 data points associated with it for different countries and years. Officials need to ascertain, based on limited information, which one of various figures reported by various sources (national publications, FAO questionnaires, international publications, etc.) is the most recent or the most reliable. Variable definitions and coverage do not always conform to FAO recommendations, and therefore may not always be completely consistent across countries. In addition, numbers for recent years displayed by WRI may vary slightly from source data due to revisions by source of recent past data. Coffee Imports ICO data on coffee imports are provided by member countries and, at times, supplemented by information from various organizations and private companies. Because the data are taken from different types of sources, there may be some variation in their accuracy. The country-level indices reported here may differ from other calculations of agricultural production due to varying concepts of production, coverage, weights, time reference of data, and methods of calculation. For more information on agricultural systems and a more complete explanation of some of the indicators listed here, please consult the searchable database section of EarthTrends: The Environmental Information Portal (http://earthtrends.wri.org/searchable_db/) or: Wood, S. et al. Pilot Analysis of Global Ecosystems: Agroecosystems. WRI: Washington, DC, 2000. SOURCES: Development Data Group, The World BankWorld Development Indicators 2004 online. Available on-line at http://publications.worldbank.org/ecommerce/catalog/product?item_id=631625) Washington, D.C.: The World Bank. 2004. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), FAOSTAT on-line statistical service. Available on-line at http://apps.fao.org. FAO: Rome, 2004. International Coffee Organization (ICO). Online trade statistics, available at http://www.ico.org/historical.asp. London: ICO, 2004.