Selected Food Producers (Survey of)

NAME OF ORGANISATION
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)

OVERVIEW
Commissioned by Nicholas Samuel, Professor of Agricultural Business and Marketing, University of Adelaide, in order to compare data with a parallel study of food manufacture in China. The latter was carried out under the auspices of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

PURPOSE
To gather data about operating characteristics of the major producers of specified food commodities.

Characteristics of interest:
income (by type); exports of goods produced (by destination); wages (managerial versus other); research expenditure; materials; fuels; packaging materials purchased; employment at 30 June (managerial versus other); Plant and equipment at 30 June (insured value, and proportion of time spent in producing commodities of interest); Expected capital expenditure (five-year projection)

Commodities of interest:
Bacon and ham; Biscuits; Cakes; Processed beef products; Processed vegetables. Data of dried beef also had been requested but, based on coverage work, was believed by ABS to be confidential, and was not collected.

It was intended that further commodities be covered in later iterations of the survey but owing to the client's funding constraints these did not proceed.

SCOPE
Manufacturing establishments having reported significant production of specified commodities of interest in 1993-94 annual Manufacturing collection, or units identified from coverage work as significant producers.

DATA DETAIL

Conceptual framework
The population consisted of major producers (establishments) of specified commodities of interest, identified from 1993-94 Manufacturing Survey in which detailed commodity data based on Australian Standard Commodity Classification (ASCC) were collected. This was supplemented by coverage work where deemed necessary.

Main outputs
Aggregate data for the major identified producers of bacon and ham, biscuits, cakes, processed beef products and processed vegetables.

Income:
Sales and transfers out of goods produced; Sales and transfers out of goods not produced; Government subsidies
All other income; Total selected income

Exports:
Percentage of sales and transfers out represented by exports of each commodity, by destination.

Expenses:
Wages and salaries, managerial/executive staff; Wages and salaries, other staff; Total wages and salaries; Research and development expenses; Marketing expenses; Materials used (nine categories and total); Fuels and electricity; Packaging materials, retail; Packaging materials, other; Total packaging materials; Total selected expenses

Employment at 30 June 1995:
Managerial/executive staff; Other staff; Total persons working

Plant and equipment:
Insured value, and proportion of time used in producing commodities of interest: Production machinery; Packaging machinery; Storage facilities; Other; Total

Expected new capital expenditure:
1995-96 financial year; 1996-2000 financial years combined.

Classifications
Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC); Australian Standard Commodity Classification (ASCC)

Other concepts (summary)
Not applicable

GEOGRAPHIC DETAIL
Australia

Comments and/or Other Regions


COLLECTION FREQUENCY
Once Only

Frequency comments
User funded survey. Was intended to be annual for three successive years commencing with 1994-95. However, owing to lack of funding, user declined to continue beyond first iteration.

COLLECTION HISTORY

7/94 initial request received from client.

11/94 Quote provided

5/95 Quote accepted

8/95 Form approved

9/95 Forms despatched

12/95 Processing commenced

2/96 Processing completed

3/96 Delivery of aggregate results to client

5/96 Regression analysis requested (in lieu of access to unit record data); quote provided and accepted

6/96 Delivery of regression results to client

DATA AVAILABILITY
No