Milk products

Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (SORS)

Agriculture and Forestry Division - Unit for livestock and fishery statistics

Dragana Pogarčić

Head of Unit for livestock and fishery statistics

5 Milana Rakića, Belgrade

dragana.pogarcic@stat.gov.rs

+381 11 2412922 ext. 243

+381 11 2410397

The statistics on milk and milk products are based on COUNCIL DIRECTIVE No 96/16/EC of 19 March 1996 on statistical surveys of milk and milk products and COMMISSION DECISION No. 97/80/EC of 18 December 1996 laying down provisions for the implementation of Council Directive 96/16/EC on statistical surveys of milk and milk products.

Unique and internationally comparable data refer to the purchased cow's milk and milk products from cow's milk produced in dairies in monthly periodicity (table A), annual purchased milk (all milk), as well as use of milk, production of milk products in dairies for the market and quantity of protein in these products  (tables B and H), annual production and use of milk on holdings ( tables I and C) and the structure of dairies and repurchase centers in triennial periodicity (tables D, E, F G1, G2, G3, G4, G5).

Тhe used product list and definitions are given in Annex I, while the list of tables and explanations regarding the transmission of data to Eurostat are given in Annex II of Commission Decision 97/80.

 Rulebook on the quality of milk products and starter cultures No. 33/210 and the Ordinance on amendments and supplements to the Regulation on the quality of milk products and starter species No. 69/210 were used for additional explanations and comparisons of the national and EU classifications.

The territorial division was carried out in accordance with the Regulation on the Nomenclature of Statistical Territorial Units ("Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia", No. 109/09 and 46/10).).

Statistics on the use of milk and milk products in dairies include: undertakings that directly purchase milk and milk products from agricultural holdings or take over milk and milk products from purchase stations, and then processing these products (dairies), as well as undertakings deal only with the purchase of milk and dairy products (purchase stations) which are further transfer to dairies (for processing, packaging, etc.) and legal units that have their own milk production and processing.

Statistics on the production and use of milk on farms cover agricultural holdings, on a sample.

Тhe number of registered dairies on the territory of the Republic of Serbia in December 2023 was 145. The number of reporting units that purchase milk from individual producers (purchase station) in the same period is 14.

According to the results of the Census of Agriculture 2023, 137744 agricultural holdings on the territory of the Republic of Serbia kept cows, sheep and goats. In 2023, the total production of milk (all milk) on farms was 1376 thousand tons, while cow's milk production was 1343 thousand tons (98% from the total). All the milk from milking that is used as animal feed (including colostrum) is included in the sum of available milk.  

• products that a dairy sold out to other dairies in the country, regardless the purpose of their use (packing or further processing)
• own-produced milk products that a dairy uses as raw material for manufacturing other milk products.

Statistical units are dairies, purchase stations and agricultural holdings.

The target group is all active dairies and purchase stations, as well as agricultural holdings dealing with milk production.

Reference area is the Republic of Serbia.

Notes: Since 1999 Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia does not answer for the specific data for AP Kosovo and Metohija and these data are not included in the coverage for the Republic of Serbia (total)

Monthly data are available from 2012. Аnnual and triennial data are available from 2015. 

Not applicable.

Data on the quantity of milk and dairy products are published in thousands of tons (000 t), unless otherwise stated in the table.

The reference period for data on the purchase of cow's milk and the production of milk products from cow's milk in dairies is a month (data are available 45 days from the reference month). Тhe latest available annual data refer to the calendar year 2023. The last reference year for the triennial data is 2021.

Data are provided in accordance with the Official Statistics Law (Official Gazette of RS, No 104/09), Regulation on defining the plan of official statistics for the referent year, Council Directive 96/16/EC of March 1996 on statistical surveys of milk and milk products, Commission Decision (97/80/EC) of 18 December 1996 laying down provisions for the implementation of Council Directive 96/16/EC on statistical surveys of milk and milk products and Cooperation Agreement between Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management (MoA) and SORS - Annex 1, signed on 14 January 2014.

Relevant data represent the official statistics and are used to meet all national and international needs (Eurostat, FAO).

Individual data are the official statistical data and as such are confidential and subject to special protection, which is provided in all phases of research. Confidentiality of individual data is guaranteed by the Law on official statistics. Any abuse of official statistics for misdemeanor charges, in accordance with the Law.

Individual data are published only in aggregated form.

Data are published on the SORS website and publications.

Publications Calendar for the relevant year is published on the website of the SORS  and can be accessed via the following link:

 http://www.stat.gov.rs/en-US/calendar

Data are available to all users on equal terms, in electronic or printed form, free. Further, special data processing for specific users' requirements is possible.  Method of utilization and dissemination of data produced by SORS is governed by the Rulebook on the use and dissemination of data produced by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, which was adopted by the SORS Director, in accordance with the Law on Official Statistics and the Law on State Administration ("Official Gazette" no. 79/05).

Data are published in monthly, annual and triennial periodicity.

News release is not scheduled.

Data on milk production are published in the complex publication "Statistical Yearbook".

Published data on the site can be accessed via the following link:  

http://data.stat.gov.rs/?languageCode=en-US

https://www.stat.gov.rs/en-US/oblasti/poljoprivreda-sumarstvo-i-ribarstvo/stocarstvo-dodatne-tabele

The data are available to users only in aggregated form, in accordance with the law.

Data transmission to Eurostat is done by web form. There are no other forms of dissemination.

Extract of the methodology as well as document Animal Production Statistics - Methodological Report are published on SORS website:

https://www.stat.gov.rs/en-US/istrazivanja/methodology-and-documents/?a=13&s=1302

  The contents of the questionnaires can also be accessed through the same link.

For information on Quality Reports see section Quality assurance.

General framework for quality assurance is defined by the Declaration on the quality or the Quality Policy, which can be accessed via the following link:

http://www.stat.gov.rs/media/2334/quality-policy.pdf

Quality control is carried out at all stages of data providing.

Control of the coverage and updating of the address book of the reporting units is carried out, as well as the controlled data entry according to the defined criteria of logical and compute control, followed by the control of the completeness of the reports and further control, analysis and validation of the data.

Data quality can be assessed as good for the level of the Republic of Serbia.

Users of this data are МоА and other institutions, journalists, students and other individuals.

During defining the content of the questionnaire, MoA representatives were consulted, and the EU legislation was examined in order to obtain data that would meet national and international needs.

The data defined in Directive 96/16/EC and Decision 97/80/EC fully satisfy national needs.

General Survey on user satisfaction is conducted every two years and results are available on the web site of SORS.  There is no specific survey on user satisfaction related to statistics on livestock number and meat. 

The data are compliant with the Directive 96/16/EC and Decision 97/80/EC. Certain small discrepancies are existing as regards the definition of skimmed milk and the categorization of cheese according to water content in non-fat matter. 

The data on input of milk and production of milk products in dairies are obtained by the full coverage of dairies, with the response 100%.

In case the non-response exists in the observed month, data for non-respondents are estimated on the basis of the total quantity of purchased milk and the structure of milk products production in dairies.

Data related to the production and use of milk and dairy products on holdings were obtained by conducting research on the sample Survey on agricultural production - livestock production. Due to the implementation of the Census of Agriculture 2023, this survey was not conducted in 2023. In 2022, the answer was 68.5%.

Accuracy of data can be assessed as satisfying for the level of the Republic of Serbia.

Due to the realization of the Census of Agriculture 2023, the Survey on agricultural production-animal production was not conducted in 2023. Below is the sampling error in 2022.

 The coefficient variation (CV) on estimation of cow's milk production on holdings for the level of the Republic of Serbia in 2022 is 14.9, sheep 27.9 and goat 19.6. The level of confidence is 95%. Below is a view of the CV of cow's milk production on holdings for the region level.

Control of the coverage of dairies is done centralized in the RZS, including contacting dairies and providing additional explanations regarding the filling in of the web questionnaire.

The identified errors in further control are corrected based on the check with the appropriate reporting unit. There is no record of the number of these errors.

The data are published in a timely manner, in accordance with the defined deadlines.

The dairies are required to fill in the web questionnaires by the 20th of the month for the previous month. Until the deadline for publication, data control and non-response assessment are performed.

Data on production and use of milk on holdings are obtained, among other data, in the first half of December, controlled and entered in regional departments of the RZS by 15 January. Due to the national needs, by 1 April, further control and analysis of data related to milk production is carried out, and then until 30 June data on milk use and production of the milk products on the holdings are provided.

The data are comparable.

Comparable time series of monthly data is available from 2012.

Comparable time series of annual and triennial data is available from 2015.

Statistical data within the data set are consistent.

Data related to dairy activities in the monthly, annual and triennial periodicity are obtained on the basis of monthly reports of dairies via the web form. The total burden of dairies that covers preparation and data entry in the reference year is 34,800 minutes (580 hours).

Data related to the production and use of milk and milk products on the holdings are obtained as part of a regular annual survey for which funds are allocated from the budget of the Republic of Serbia. As this survey was not conducted in 2023 due to the implementation of the Census of Agriculture 2023, the estimate of the average annual workload of agricultural holdings in the 2022 survey sample, for the purpose of collecting data related only to the use and production of milk and dairy products on the holdings, is 23432 minutes (391 hours).

General policy revision was adopted by the institution, it is available on the SORS website and can be accessed via the following link:

http://www.stat.gov.rs/en-US/o-nama/dokumenti

Data revision was not applied in the reference year.

Detailed monthly data on dairy activities are obtained by downloading the evidention of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management (administrative source). Evidention is provided on the basis of monthly reports of dairies submitted through the web form (Monthly input of raw milk and products obtained at dairies). SORS is responsible for data entry, data processing and publishing.

Data on the production and use of milk and milk products on holdings are obtained by conducting a regular annual Survey on agricultural production - animal production. As this survey was not conducted in 2023 due to the realization of Census of Agriculture 2023, data on the production and use of milk and dairy products on holdings in the year of the census were obtained by assessment based on the results of the census and the results of a regular survey from previous years.

Survey on agriculture production - animal production in 2022 was conducted by telephone - centralized (CATI method) for family and entrepreneurial holdings (not through printed questionnaires - in the field, PAPI method), and for legal entities survey was conducted by post (POST method) and web (CAWI method).   Sample size was only 1.3% of agricultural holdings, which, along with non-response, has the effect of increasing the value of Coefficients of Variation for the main variables, i.e. less precision.

For the purposes of calculating the annual data on milk and milk products, data on import and export of milk, cream and other milk products in bulk or in larger packages (2 l or more) by dairies in the reference year are also in use (data from external trade statistics). 

Additional sources of data are the surveys of the SORS (internal trade statistics) regarding the purchase of agricultural products from individual producers (Monthly report on purchase of agricultural products from family farms)  and realization of own production of legal entities in agriculture (Monthly survey on the realization of the agriculture production of legal entities), as well as data from industry statistics in the monthly and annual periodicity used for validation the obtained results.

Dairy reports are collected in a monthly periodicity.

Survey on agricultural production - livestock production is carried out in the annual periodicity.

Data on purchase of agricultural products from individual producers and realization of own production of legal entities in agriculture (data of internal trade statistics), industry and export-import data are available in the monthly and annual periodicity.

The dairies are obliged to send monthly reports to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management by the 20th of the month for the previous month, via the web questionnaire. The application was created in .net technology in the Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 database. Annual data on the quantities of used whole and skimmed milk for the production of milk products and the quantities of proteins (tables B and H) are calculated by the output method (based on the content of milk fat and protein in the final milk products of dairies).

Triennial data on the structure of dairies and repurchase centers are provided by special processing of annual data on milk and milk products produced in dairies and annual data of internal trade statistics.

Data on the production and use of milk and milk products on holdings are obtained by conducting the Survey on agricultural production - livestock production in the period 2-16 December of each year, by interview method, through printed questionnaires in the field and centrally by phone for family holdings and entrepreneurs' holdings, as well as through post and web questionnaires for legal entities. Complete data entry for holdings in the sample ends on January 15th. Data processing for making and publishing of the first results is done by February 15th, followed by further data analysis and calculation of livestock production. The deadline for publishing the final results of annual statistics on livestock breeding (milk production, to the level of the region) for national needs is 1 April. After that, quantity of milk used for the production of certain milk products in the holdings is calculated according to the coefficients given in the table, and preparation and transmission of data to Eurostat are done (tables C and I).

Table 10                              Milk norms for certain milk products

*Commission regulation (EC) No 595/2004 of 30 March 2004

 For recalculating milk volume into milk weight measure, the following equation was applied: 1 ℓ milk = 1.03 kg milk.

Data on the purchase of agricultural products from individual producers and realization of own production of legal entities in agriculture (internal trade statistics) are collected by monthly reports of organizations that purchase agricultural products from family holdings for the purpose of further sale or processing and monthly reports from agricultural and other organizations that sell / deliver agricultural products of their own production, by the 5th of the month for the previous month. After that data are entered and processed. The final data are available by the 30th of the month for the previous month, and the annual data by 10 March of the current year for the previous year.

Industry statistics provide data from the administrative records and documentation of reporting units. The statistics are collected through monthly and annual reports.

In order to provide data on the export and import of goods, the SORS takes over the Uniform Administrative Document ready for automatic data processing from the Republic Customs Administration by the 15th of the month for the previous month and carries out further statistical control and processing. Monthly external trade data are available by the 30th of the month for the previous month, and the final annual data by July 15th for the previous year.

Automatic and manual validation of data completeness is performed.

Validation of data is based on the results from the previous year and industry statistics.

Controlled data entry and processing is done in the IST program (developed in the SORS). During data processing, non-response of reporting units and non-response to certain key issues are solved  by imputation of data from the report of the same reporting unit from the previous year or reports of other reporting units in the current year, if relevant and possible.

Not applicable.

No note.