Tike (the Information Centre of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry) has completed the cereals balance sheet for the crop year 2008 - 2009. The good grain harvest in 2008 (4.2 billion kg) covered domestic needs for wheat, barley and oats, but 86 million kg of rye had to be imported for food milling. At the end of June, the amount of stockpiled grain, 1 960 million kg, was almost 475 million kg higher than a year earlier.

Over half of the grain harvest used for fodder
Livestock are the largest consumers of domestic cereals; 2.2 billion kg were used as livestock fodder, representing over half of the Finnish grain harvest. The cereal consumed in the greatest quantities by livestock was barley, 1.2 billion kg. Oats ranked second at 0.7 billion kg. Livestock also ate close to 0.3 billion kg of wheat. Rye is not used as fodder in Finland.

Foodstuff use was13%
Of the 3 434 million kg of cereals used during the crop year, Finns only ate 442 million kg as cereal products. 284 million kg of our main bread grain, wheat, were used during the year. Rye was the second most consumed grain, 92 million kg. Oat consumption amounted to 57 million kg. Less than 10 million kg of barley were used in foodstuffs.

Oats are exported, rye imported
The total grain harvest (4.2 billion kg) far exceeds annual Finnish consumption (3.4 billion kg). Since production surpasses consumption, cereals can be exported. Oats are our main export cereal, with exports during the crop year amounting to 295 million kg. For many years now, the rye harvest has not sufficed for rye bread production in Finland. The 2008 harvest, 61 million kg, had to be supplemented by importing 86 million kg of rye.

Grain stockpiles grow
On 30 June 2009, at the end of the crop year and before the harvest of the new crop, the total amount of stockpiled grain in Finland was 1 960 million kg. This represents over half a year’s consumption. The greatest amount of cereals is kept in stock by farms for use as livestock fodder. Large cereal stocks are also maintained by the National Emergency Supply Agency to safeguard the national food supply. The amounts of wheat and rye in storage are more or less sufficient to cover a year’s consumption, while the stockpiles of oats and barley would be used up in less than half a year.

Background to the statistics
The cereals balance sheet (crop year 1 July 2008 – 30 June 2009) is based on Tike’s statistics on crop production and use of crops on farms, information provided by domestic industrial enterprises in the food and feed sectors and other industrial enterprises utilising grains, and on the foreign trade statistics of the National Board of Customs. The National Board of Customs confirms the data for the calendar year by the end of April of the following year. It is thus possible that the foreign trade statistics for 2009 may be revised.

Additional information
Researcher Anneli Partala, tel. +358 (0)20 77 21376
All email addresses are formed: firstname.lastname@mmmtike.fi