The scope of standardization is to present these data in a less detailed form for a selected number of commodities without causing any significant loss of the basic variables monitoring the agricultural sector. The selected commodities include the equivalents of their derived products falling in the same commodity group, but exclude the equivalents of by-products and derived commodities, which through processing, change their nature and become part of different commodity groups. Some of these are included with the aim of simplifying the extraction of all component commodities. The commodity list in this domain has been generally confined to primary commodities - except for sugar, oils and fats and beverages. Whenever possible trade in processed commodities is expressed in the originating primary commodity equivalent.
Rice is expressed in milled equivalent.
Figures relate to the total domestic production whether inside or outside the agricultural sector, i.e. it includes non-commercial production and production from kitchen gardens. As a general rule, all data on meat are expressed in terms of carcass weight. Cover all movements into the country of the commodity in question. It includes commercial trade, food aid granted on specific terms, donated quantities and estimates of unrecorded trade. As a general rule, figures are reported in terms of net weight, i.e. excluding the weight of the container.