NOTES ON METHODOLOGY

Legal and methodological framework

The price indices in agriculture in the Republic of Croatia have been calculated on the 2005 basis within the national Phare 2005 Programme for the first time and the methodology used has been harmonised according to Eurostat recommendations.

The agricultural price statistics department carries out quarterly surveys on the sale and purchase of agricultural products as well as a quarterly survey on the sale of seeds and planting material.

The surveys of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics and administrative data are the basis for the calculation of quarterly and annual price indices in agriculture.

Data on the sale and purchase of agricultural products are collected through quarterly surveys from legal entities and parts thereof and from tradesmen that sell own-produced products as well as from legal entities and parts thereof and from tradesmen who purchase those products from private family farms.

The average producer prices obtained in the survey on the purchase and sale are calculated on the basis of collected data on the quantity and value of agricultural products.

Subsidies and other pecuniary supports granted to producers as a compensation for delivered products are not included in the value of the purchase or sale of agricultural products. The value of products does not include the value added tax (VAT).

The purpose of the research is to collect data on average producer prices of agricultural products used for calculating the price indices of agricultural products (output).

Data on price indices of goods and services for current use in agricultural production (input I) are obtained from regular surveys of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics, administrative data of the Ministry of Agriculture and other administrative sources.

The surveys directly conducted by the Croatian Bureau of Statistics are based on the Official Statistics Act (NN, No. 25/20).

The base year for calculating the price indices is 2015 and the base year changes every five years.

Indices from 2005 to 2012 are calculated with 2010 as the base year and are mutually comparable. For recalculating indices of agricultural products (output), we used a new weighting structure because we were improving data collection until 2010 and had more detailed data.

The price indices of goods and services for current use in agricultural production (input I) were calculated through indices using 2010 as the base year.

The quarterly weights of agricultural products (crop and livestock) differ depending on the marketability of a particular product. They were calculated based on the share of individual products in the purchase and sale of agricultural products and on the value of agricultural production from economic accounts in agriculture.

For the weighting of goods and services consumed in agriculture, only the value of intermediate consumption from the economic accounts in agriculture with equal quarterly shares was used in accordance with the common Eurostat methodology, which means that seasonal effect is not applied.

The structure of weights is reviewed every five years, and Laspeyres’ formula is used to calculate the price index.

Coverage

Average producer prices of agricultural products are gathered on the basis of quarterly surveys on the purchase and sale of agricultural products, whose reporting units are legal entities and parts thereof as well as tradesmen classified into section A Agriculture, forestry and fishing – division 01 (excluding group 01.7 Hunting, trapping and related service activities) and other legal entities and tradesmen engaged in the production or purchase of agricultural products classified into other activity sections of the NKD 2007. It includes legal entities employing 10 or more persons and tradesmen employing five or more persons.

Reporting units directly fill in the data in the web form (PO-31a/Q and PO-31b/Q), which is on the website of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics www.dzs.hr.

The prices of goods consumed in agricultural production are derived from other surveys of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics, administrative data of the Ministry of Agriculture and other administrative sources.

The agricultural price indices are calculated at the level of the Republic of Croatia.

Definitions

The purchase from private family farms includes agricultural products that are directly purchased or taken over from private family farms for processing or resale.

The sale of agriculture products includes the sale of products from own production of legal entities and parts thereof and of tradesmen.

Average producer prices are those including taxes (excluding VAT), while subsidies are excluded.

Agricultural price indices include the prices of agricultural products and the prices of goods and services expended in agricultural production.

Price indices of agricultural goods output include crop and animal output (livestock, poultry and animal products).

Price indices of goods and services consumed in agriculture include the price indices of goods and services currently consumed in agricultural production and the price indices of goods and services contributing to agricultural investment.

Goods are all products except services.

Services include the maintenance of materials (machines and materials), agricultural buildings and other services.

Abbreviations

Eurostat ‒ Statistical Office of the European Union