Storage stocks background information

Storage stocks background information

Cold storage warehouses in Canada voluntary submit to Agriculture and Agri-food Canada (AAFC) an inventory of frozen poultry and egg product stored on premises on the first full business day of each month. The inventory reflects what is held in the warehouse on that day; it is not a cumulative total for the entire month.

Poultry held in storge is an important piece of information for the supply-managed poultry sectors, including chicken, turkey, and eggs, when setting production levels. This information is an important indicator of demand. In addition to the supply-managed commodity boards, this data is used by governments, industry organizations, processors, and retailers in analyzing industry trends and making policy and business decisions. The quality of the data is dependent on the completeness of the information received.

While AAFC collects the data, this information is published by both AAFC and Statistics Canada.

Collection process in more detail

• On the first of the month, AAFC sends out reminders to participating cold storage warehouses to submit their information for the current month.
• The deadline for submission is within the first two weeks of each month.
• Data is recorded and stored in a secure database and is received by various means, including emailed copies of internal company reports, fillable pdfs provided by AAFC (examples linked below), or data entry directly into AAFC’s database via secure login.
• Internal validation and verification of storage stocks data is conducted by prior to public release, including confirmations with cold storage warehouses and corrections if required. Individual establishments’ data may be estimated if their reports are not received in time for the release date.
• Every effort is made to make the national storage monthly report available on AAFC’s Poultry website by 4:00pm Eastern Time on the release date. The release schedule can be found online here. Revisions to previous months’ data received since the previous month are also included each time the data is published by AAFC.

Forms used by Storage Facilities:

• The form used by cold storage warehouses is A6050_E Inventory statement of frozen eggs and poultry products(PDF, 68 KB)
• Dried Eggs are collected on a separate form, A6051_E Inventory edible dried egg products.(PDF, 48 KB)