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The total amount of wheat or maize flour produced for domestic human consumption
This indicator provides information on the total amount of wheat or maize flour milled in the country or area for domestic human consumption.
This indicator describes how much flour is produced and potentially available to be fortified in a country. This information is used during the planning phase when determining whether wheat or maize flour is an appropriate food to fortify, and may also be used when establishing the levels of nutrient fortification. This information is also collected as part of ongoing programme monitoring, to ensure that wheat or maize flour continues to be an appropriate food for fortification and that the availability of fortified wheat or maize flour has not changed, which might affect intakes and warrant an adjustment in the levels of nutrient fortification. The total amount of wheat or maize flour produced in a country is also needed for calculation of the percentage of flour that is milled by large industrial mills (20 metric tons/day or more) domestically.
Calculation of the total amount of wheat or maize flour produced by a country for human consumption in that country.
Multiply the metric tons of wheat or maize produced in a country over the previous year (or another specific period of time) by the extraction rate, to calculate the metric tons of flour:
metric tons of wheat or maize grain × extraction rate = metric tons of flour
Considerations for the calculations:
• The number of metric tons of wheat or maize produced in a given country is provided by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) (1); this value can be converted to metric tons of wheat or maize flour for domestic use, by multiplying with the country-specific extraction rate (e.g. 80% for wheat flour, 70% for maize flour).
• The extraction rate reported by the milling industry is necessary to calculate this indicator. If the milling industry will not report it, then generic extraction rates are used: 80% for wheat flour; 67.5% for African maize flour; 72.5% for maize flour from South America, Central America and the Caribbean; and 70% for maize flour from any other region of the world (2).
• Because of a reporting delay, the data provided by FAO may not include the current or previous year. Other sources of mill production (i.e. cereal millers’ association or data from each mill) may be available and may be more accurate and timely. FAO presents a comprehensive picture of the pattern of a country's wheat or maize supply during a specified reference period.
• In converting FAO’s wheat or maize production statistic to wheat-flour or maize-flour production, it is assumed that all of the wheat or maize produced in the country is converted to wheat flour or maize flour, and that none of the wheat or maize flour is lost to spoilage, destroyed or consumed by animals.
flour production, supply
Food fortification
Activity
Production and supply
School age children, 12-23 months, 24-35 months, 36-47 months, 48-59 months, 6-11 months, Adolescents, Men, Women of reproductive age
All
Folate, Iron, Niacin, Vitamin A, Thiamine (vitamin B1), Vitamin B12, Riboflavin (vitamin B2), Vitamin B6, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, Zinc
Market-based
The FAO data are published at least one year after they are collected. This estimate can be difficult to verify with other sources.
The food balance sheet shows the availability of wheat and maize for human consumption, which corresponds to the sources of supply and its utilization.
Information on wheat and maize production is available on the FAO website for most countries, and is free of charge (1). This indicator provides information about wheat and maize flour accessibility and monitoring this indicator over time can illustrate long-term trends in the national wheat or maize supply.
FAO food balance sheets are derived from official government data and can be of benefit to food-fortification programme managers; hence, fortification recommendations based on these data may confer greater acceptance among governments.
When relying on FAO data, this indicator may not be up to date. This indicator is a rough estimate of the production in a country and other estimates may be more accurate, but not as readily available for public use because they are owned by the private sector.
According to FAO, a country produced 25 261 400 metric tons of wheat in 2011. The country-specific extraction rate of 75% was applied to calculate the amount of wheat flour produced:
Calculation: 25 261 400 metric tons × 75/100 = 18 946 050 metric tons of flour was produced in this country in 2011.
1. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Statistics Division (FAOSTAT) [online database]. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; 2015 (http://faostat3.fao.org/home/index.html#HOME , accessed 6 October 2015).2. New grain, new name: 2014 year in review. Atlanta: Food Fortification Initiative; 2014 (http://www.ffinetwork.org/about/stay_informed/publications/documents/FFI2014Review.pdf, accessed 11 May 2015).