Country Profiles

How We Get Our Data

Photo: RTI/Xaume Olleros

Photo: RTI/Xaume Olleros

 

Most country profile information is provided by FFI staff and our partners. E-mail us at info@ffinetwork.org with any changes or additional information.

Suggested citation for FFI database:
Food Fortification Initiative. Country Profile Database. FFI: Atlanta, USA 2023.

 

2022 Update on Methodology

In 2022, FFI began transitioning to a new methodology for determining its annual estimates of global grain fortification progress.

As a part of the new methodology, we apply specific criteria to data from each country that focuses our calculations on the grain(s) that would be good candidates and excludes the grain(s) that would not be good candidates for large-scale fortification. This primarily means emphasizing grains that are widely consumed and mostly industrially processed. Consequently, the results presented from 2022 forward may have a slightly different composition than in previous years. See “opportunity adjustment” to learn about the new methodology.

Country Profile Table 1: Grain Production, Imports, Exports, and Availability

Flour and Rice Available

We measure global progress in grain fortification using multiple data sources. We begin with data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations that describes how much flour or milled rice is available in the food supply for each country.

For countries with FAO data, we use the Supply Utilization Account (SUA) food supply quantity (tons) element to determine the amount of wheat flour, maize flour, and milled rice available. In previous years, the Food Balance Sheets (FBS) and extraction rates were used to calculate the amount of flour available. For some countries, moving from SUA to FBS figures causes significant changes, likely due to SUA’s focus on milled grains and products made with flour used specifically for human consumption versus FBS’s more general inclusion of grains and their uses.

If a country or territory does not have FAO data available, we use publicly available data and, as needed, extraction rates to convert grain numbers to flour available. If country-specific extraction rates are available, those are applied. Otherwise, the default extraction rate for wheat in its conversion from grain to flour is 75%. The default extraction rate for maize varies by region, with 67.5% used for Africa, 72.5% for the Americas, and 70% elsewhere. We collect data on milled, hulled, and broken rice in our estimates. As a result, it is not necessary to apply a default extraction rate to rice.

Sources

We use data from multiple sources, in particular FAOSTAT of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. Data presented on the country profiles come from one of the following three categories of sources, depending on the country:

FAO - Supply Utilization Accounts and Food Balances (2010-)

  • Grain production, import, and export figures for wheat and maize are based on FAO’s Food Balances. Where available, numbers used include Production (element F2511), Import Quantity (element 5611), and Export Quantity (element 5911) for Wheat and products (item F2511) and Maize and products (item F2514).

  • Flour import, flour export, availability, and all rice figures are based on FAO's Supply Utilization Accounts. Where available, numbers used include Import Quantity (element 5610), Export Quantity (element 5910), Production (element 5510), and Food Supply Quantity (g/capita/day, element 665) for Wheat (item 0111), Wheat and Meslin Flour (item 23110), Bread (item F0020), Bulgur (item 23140.02), Pastry (F0022), Uncooked Pasta Not Stuffed or Otherwise Prepared (item 23710), Maize (item 0112), Maize Flour (item 23120.03), Rice, Broken (item 23161.03), Rice, Husked (item 23162), and Rice, Milled (item 23161.02).

FAO, no Supply Utilization Account data available -  Crops and Livestock Products – Production and Crops and Livestock Products - Trade

  • Where available, figures include Import Quantity (element 5610), Export Quantity (element 5910), and Production (element 5510) for Wheat (item 15), Rice (item 30), Maize (item 56), Wheat Flour (item 16), and Maize Flour (item 58). Wheat products included as part of “Available in food supply” are Bread (item F0020), Bulgur (item 23140.02), Pastry (F0022), Uncooked Pasta Not Stuffed or Otherwise Prepared (item 23710).

  • Domestic production of rice is a milled rice equivalent. Import and export figures include husked, broken, and milled rice.

Other sources - These figures are a compilation of publicly available data. Please note that the figures may not be comprehensive as some may be estimates or partial numbers. For a specific source, email info@ffinetwork.org.

  • To determine the amount of food available in a country, any domestic production is added to grain imports. Grain exports are subtracted and the resulting total is subjected to a extraction rate. Flour exports are subtracted from flour imports and the result is added to the conversion of grain to flour. This final food supply of flour is then converted to grams and presented as grams/person/day for that country.

  • For the wheat flour and maize flour figures of some countries, FFI must convert grain figures into milled equivalents. For most countries, FFI uses country-specific extraction rates provided by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. With some exceptions, wheat to wheat flour extraction rates are assumed to be 75%. Maize to maize flour extraction rate is assumed to be 72.5% in South and Central America, 67.5% in Africa, and 70% elsewhere unless country specific numbers are available.

  • Domestic production of rice is presented as a milled rice equivalent. To calculate milled rice equivalent, we multiply the amount of paddy rice produced by an extraction rate of 67%. Import and export figures may include husked, broken, and milled rice.

 


Country Profile Table 2: Legislation, Milling Industry, and Fortification

Legislation Status

We use the following definitions based on our available information:

  • Mandatory: Country has legislation that has the effect of mandating fortification of one or more types of wheat or maize flour or rice with at least iron or folic acid.

  • Voluntary: Country has standard for fortification, but fortification is not mandatory.

Number of Industrial Mills

For wheat, this information is often based on a Country Focus article in World Grain magazine. See the “Departments” option at www.world-grain.com. National milling associations and other partners also provide this information.

We frequently lack information on the number of industrial maize and rice mills per country. If you have that information, please e-mail info@ffinetwork.org.

Percentage Produced in Industrial Mills and Fortified

We assume that any imported grain is 100% industrially processed.

The FFI regions of Europe and the Americas are assumed to industrially mill 100% of their wheat flour, maize flour, and rice. All other countries are taken on an individual basis, relying on information from industry reports, country staff, and other partners. Some countries are known to have a large number of small (non-industrial) wheat mills, such as Afghanistan, India, Nepal, and Pakistan, resulting in less definite estimates of industrial milling capacity.

We also ask national partners in governments, milling associations, nongovernmental organizations, private sector, and UN agencies around the world to estimate how much of each grain is industrially processed and fortified in their country. We then compile the country figures into global estimates.

Opportunity Adjustment

FFI determines if countries could be considered a good opportunity for large-scale grain fortification based on several considerations. For each grain, the grams available per person per day are examined. If a country has more than 25 grams of wheat flour or more than 37.5 grams of maize flour or rice available per person per day, it may be a good opportunity. Popularity of grain is another consideration. For example, even though the average Jordanian eats more than 37.5 grams of rice per day, they eat more than 176 grams of wheat flour per day. Therefore, fortification of rice may not be considered a priority in Jordan. Additionally, FFI is primarily concerned with large-scale fortification, meaning a grain must be primarily produced at industrial mills for it to be considered a good opportunity for fortifying. These factors and others such as urbanicity are used to determine which grain(s) may be a good opportunity for fortification in each country.

Country Profile Table 3: Nutrients Added Through Fortification

The Food Fortification Initiative staff and our country partners provide information regarding the nutrients added to cereal grains in fortification. The amounts listed are in parts per million, which is the same as milligram per kilogram.

When a country allows a range of nutrients in the fortification standard, the amount listed in the country profile is the average of the highest and lowest levels allowed.