DEPARTMENT OF CENSUS & STATISTICSDEPARTMENT OF CENSUS & STATISTICSDEPARTMENT OF CENSUS & STATISTICS

Ministry of National Policies and Economic affairsMinistry of National Policies and Economic affairsMinistry of National Policies and Economic affairs

STATISTICAL NEWSLETTERSTATISTICAL NEWSLETTERSTATISTICAL NEWSLETTER

VOL. 1/9, JUNE 2016 ISSN 1800—3095

DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY 2016 - CAPI TECHNOLOGY IN

DATA COLLECTION

Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) embarked on a new

project to complete data entry of sample surveys during the inter-

view stage itself- using Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing

(CAPI) System using tablet computers. CAPI enables interviewers

use portable computers to enter data directly via keyboard instead

of collecting data on paper questionnaires. The Department is cur-

rently using CAPI to collect data for the Demographic and Health

Survey, 2016.

The tablet PC’s were given to every field interviewers while the

supervisory officers coordinate the assigned work through tablet

PC’s. By using this technology, it can be able to reduce the errors oc-

curred at the stage of data collection. Furthermore no additional time is

required to computerize the data.

This new method was successfully used during the pre-testing stage of the

DHS which was completed in February 2016. The field work has been

commenced in mid-May 2016 after the training held in April 2016. Demo-

graphic and Health Survey covering the entire island using a sample of

25,000 housing units. The Department of Census and Statistics carried out

this survey on the technical support of Inner City Fund (ICF)

(International) Institute with the assistance of Ministry of Health, Nutrition

and Indigenous Medicine. Financial support for this survey is provided by

the World Bank.

ECONOMIC CENSUS 2013/14 – INDUSTRY, TRADE AND SERVICES

Economic Census 2013/14 carried out for the first time in Sri Lanka, conducted in two stages; Listing stage and the detailed data collection stage. Listing stage was conducted during October – December, 2013. A report based on the listing stage of the Economic Census was released in June 2015. The report is available on www.statistics.gov.lk (linked to the Economic Census logo.) A limited number of copies were also printed.

Distribution of establishments and persons engaged by Sector

Main Industry Establishments Persons Engaged

Number % Number %

Total 1,019,681 100.0 3,003,119 100.0

Industry & Construction 260,880 25.6 1,219,997 40.6

Trade 418,615 41.1 767,882 25.6

Services 340,186 33.4 1,015,240 33.8

The establishments engaged in trade and

services activities were listed and enu-

merated for the first time in Sri Lanka

and distribution of the economic activi-

ties according to major economic sec-

tors showed that the trade sector ac-

counted for 41.1% of the total econom-

ic activities followed by services

(33.4%) and industry & construction

sectors (25.6%), respectively. The composition of persons engaged by the main economic sector reveals that the

persons engaged in industry and construction activities (40.6%) is the highest among

the other sectors.

ICF Staff with D.G. and A.D.G. of DCS

CAPI Training for DCS Staff

Source: Economic Census 2013/14

PAGE 2 STATISTICAL NEWSLETTER

“Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things”

DCS developed a definition for small and medium establish-ments based on the data collected at the listing stage of the economic census. The number of persons engaged, which proved to be the most reliable and consistent variable in defining small and medium enterprises, was used for defin-ing SMEs in the country. It was observed that the sector industry, trade and services need to be considered separately because the economic performance with respect to number of persons engaged varied vastly.

Small and Medium Enterprises

Major economic sector

SME Group Criteria (Number of persons engaged)

Industry and Construction

Micro 1 to 4

Small 5 to 24

Medium 25 to 199

Large 200 and above

Trade

Micro 1 to 3

Small 4 to 14

Medium 15 to 34

Large 35 and above

Services

Micro 1 to 4

Small 5 to 15

Medium 16 to 74

Large 75 and above

The enumeration of 937 large enterprises was conducted during the third quarter of 2015. These enterprises were engaged in 1349 diverse activities pertaining to industries, trade and services sectors.

As in the case of most developed countries, a sample was selected from small and medium establishments for detailed data collection and the large enterprises were totally enumerated. In order to avoid duplica-tion of data, the large enterprises were enumerated after the comple-tion of data collection from the sample of small and medium establish-ments.

Editing, coding (industry and product codes) and data entry of the cen-sus schedules is currently being carried out simultaneously. The final report and the economic atlas are to be published shortly.

The economic activities by province

Number of establishments and persons engaged in economic activities (excluding small scale renting, transportations and the

government and semi government sector) by district and percentages by size of establishments are shown in the table.

Enumeration of large enterprises

ECONOMIC CENSUS 2013/14 – INDUSTRY, TRADE AND SERVICES

District Total

Number of Establishments

Total

Number of Persons Engaged

Micro Small Medium Large Micro Small Medium Large

Row % Row % Row % Row % Row % Row % Row % Row %

Colombo 135,998 85.00% 11.70% 2.50% 0.80% 700,638 25.30% 16.90% 17.30% 40.60%

Gampaha 127,734 91.30% 7.10% 1.30% 0.30% 493,476 34.20% 13.80% 14.00% 38.00%

Kalutara 60,717 93.00% 5.90% 1.00% 0.20% 165,470 47.20% 16.30% 14.00% 22.50%

Kandy 62,062 90.60% 8.10% 1.10% 0.20% 168,057 49.30% 22.20% 14.00% 14.50%

Matale 25,784 92.10% 7.20% 0.60% 0.10% 61,192 54.70% 22.00% 8.70% 14.70%

NuwaraEliya 24,779 94.00% 4.90% 0.80% 0.20% 70,381 45.40% 12.50% 12.90% 29.30%

Galle 48,584 92.60% 6.20% 1.00% 0.20% 132,968 46.90% 17.20% 13.60% 22.30%

Matara 43,423 93.50% 5.60% 0.80% 0.10% 100,586 56.30% 18.00% 14.10% 11.60%

Hambantota 31,638 94.70% 4.70% 0.50% 0.10% 70,283 60.10% 16.40% 7.20% 16.40%

Jaffna 34,128 92.90% 6.40% 0.60% 0.10% 70,698 63.40% 23.00% 8.70% 4.80%

Mannar 4,481 95.20% 4.50% 0.30% 0.00% 8,277 73.80% 17.40% 4.00% 4.80%

Vavuniya 7,351 88.30% 10.40% 1.20% 0.10% 18,676 50.40% 29.70% 13.80% 6.10%

Mullaitivu 4,122 93.70% 5.50% 0.70% 0.00% 7,986 66.60% 21.20% 12.20% 0.00%

Kilinochchi 6,238 90.40% 9.10% 0.50% 0.00% 14,715 53.50% 32.30% 6.80% 7.40%

Batticaloa 29,135 94.90% 4.70% 0.40% 0.00% 53,732 68.50% 20.60% 5.90% 5.00%

Ampara 30,550 94.90% 4.70% 0.40% 0.00% 59,470 68.80% 17.10% 6.80% 7.30%

Trincomalee 16,565 94.60% 4.90% 0.30% 0.10% 31,726 67.40% 18.30% 4.20% 10.10%

Kurunegala 86,788 93.30% 6.00% 0.60% 0.10% 211,613 55.30% 18.00% 9.90% 16.80%

Puttalam 44,894 92.60% 6.70% 0.60% 0.10% 106,288 57.70% 20.90% 10.80% 10.60%

Anuradhapura 43,715 93.90% 5.50% 0.50% 0.10% 98,858 60.20% 17.30% 6.50% 15.90%

Polonnaruwa 21,030 93.90% 5.50% 0.50% 0.10% 47,820 58.60% 17.80% 7.60% 15.90%

Badulla 30,457 92.80% 6.30% 0.90% 0.10% 70,091 56.50% 19.80% 13.80% 9.90%

Moneragala 18,846 95.00% 4.60% 0.40% 0.10% 40,513 59.40% 15.10% 5.40% 20.00%

Ratnapura 45,210 91.20% 7.80% 0.80% 0.10% 120,250 47.20% 23.00% 12.80% 17.00%

Kegalle 35,452 93.80% 5.50% 0.60% 0.10% 79,355 58.10% 18.10% 11.10% 12.70%

Contd.

Source: Economic Census 2013/14

PAGE 3 VOL . 1/9, JUNE 2016

“Productivity is being able to do things that you were never able to do before”

market. Potatoes and Big Onion have to

be imported about 111,569 MT and

123,348 MT respectively up to end of

2016. Further red Onion have to be

imported about 41,184 MTs for 2016 to

fulfil the balance of total market sup-

plies.

Data used

Monthly production forecast of essential

food items are estimated based on pre-

vious experience and production series

obtained from each Maha and Yala sea-

son using past ten years period. Annual

national consumption requirement of

such food items is estimated based on

HIES survey conducted by department

of Census and Statistics and annual food

availability in recent years. Monthly

FOOD SECURITY IN SRI LANKA 2016 - FORECASTING OF THE MONTHLY FOOD

PRODUCTION, STORAGE AND IMPORT NEEDS OF ESSENTIAL FOOD ITEMS

Introduction

Forecasting of the monthly production,

storage and total market supply of the

essential food items is very important to

planners, policy makers and government

to determine the monthly import needs,

taxes and their prices when making deci-

sion in the policy making. Four main

essential food items like rice, potatoes,

big onion and red onion are taken to

consider of which the part of total mar-

ket supply mainly depend on the local

production and balance fulfil with the

imports. The rice may not be imported

in future up to the end of 2016 because

of its self-sufficiency. The other three

items have to be imported since its

shortage up to production from local

Imports of such food items are obtained

from Sri Lanka customs. Sri Lanka got

self-sufficiency from rice production

since 2011 and other essential foods

Potatoes, Big onion and Red onion are

not sufficient with their national de-

mand. Annually, government expense

billions of rupees to cover this foods

requirement. It can be observed that

more than 50% of local consumption is

mainly depend on imports. Therefore

forecasting of the monthly import needs

of such consumer foods like Potatoes,

Big onion and Red onion by their

monthly production availability in the

market can help to plan control the

foods shortage, market prices and their

budget estimate.

Rice production, consumption and availability in Sri Lanka

Source: Dept. of Census & Statistics/Sri Lanka Customs

* Rice consumption with providing packets from outdoor catering

According to column 10 there are no rice shortage since 2012. Total rice production is sufficient for local requirement.

Net production forecast estimate except post harvesting wastage and seed requirement of the

year, 2016

Year Paddy

production (MT)

Post harvesting

wastage (MT)

Seed requirements

(MT)

Net Paddy production

(MT)

Net Rice Production

(MT)

Net Rice imports

(MT)

Rice Availability

(MT)

Annual Rice household

consumptions (MT) *

Balance stocks (MT)

(1) (2) (3) (4) 5=(2-(3+4)) 6=(5 x.68) 7 8=(6+7) 9 10

2011 3,894,233 233,654 127,596 3,532,983 2,402,428 21,833 2,424,261 2,426,647 -2,386

2012 3,845,945 230,757 111,268 3,503,920 2,382,666 6,993 2,389,659 2,363,740 25,919

2013 4,620,728 277,244 128,025 4,215,459 2,866,512 12,623 2,879,135 2,381,763 497,372

2014 3,380,780 202,847 100,591 3,077,342 2,092,593 594,963 2,687,556 2,404,089 283,467

2015 4,765,924 285,955 130,741 4,349,228 2,957,475 276,171 3,233,646 2,437,926 795,719

TRAINING ON INTRODUCTION TO SATELLITE DATA

WE’RE ON THE WEB

www.statistics.gov.lk

Sri Lanka has been selected for a pilot

programme to test whether poverty can

be measured through variables derived

using satellite images. Under this pilot

study, initiated by the World Bank,

findings from Orbital Insight with cen-

sus data and on‐the‐ground surveys will

be used to develop poverty proxies. In

connection with this programme, train-

ing on Introduction to Satellite Data was

conducted at the Department of Census

and Statistics (DCS) from 11th to 14th

January 2016. It also provided an oppor-

tunity to discuss how the skills of local

and international remote sensing experts

can be used to improve and facilitate

this work. DCS to improve official sta-

tistics in Sri Lanka by exposing its staff

to new aspects of data science, new data

tools and technologies in future.

Key components of this Training includ-

ed use of ‘R’ (open source software en-

vironment for statistical computing and

graphics), ‘QGIS’ (software which is a

cross‐platform and open source desktop

geographic information system), and

‘GIS’ (Geographic Information System)

as data capturing, analysis and dissemi-

nation of tools.

Month

Rice Potatoes Big onion Red onion

Production forecast

(MT)

Import needs (MT)

Production forecast

(MT)

Import needs (MT)

Production forecast

(MT)

Import needs (MT)

Production forecast

(MT)

Import needs (MT)

January 124,257 0 2,641 6,532 * 312 0 * 5,166 1,315

February 459,929 0 2,378 13,541 1,909 0 * 6,380 101

March 780,893 0 17,008 0 1,052 10,219 9,168 0

April 332,540 0 5,329 9,501 79 18,855 3,157 637

May 86,951 0 4,921 10,998 12 18,922 6,715 0

June 8,154 0 2,870 13,049 0 18,934 115 6,132

July 220,950 0 243 15,677 338 18,596 2,314 4,167

August 472,696 0 0 15,919 17,811 1,123 2,861 3,620

September 342,068 0 0 15,919 27,740 0 249 6,232

October 108,124 0 6,631 9,288 10,791 0 208 6,273

November 9,939 0 9,849 6,070 506 17,765 0 6,481

December 3,781 0 14,312 1,607 0 18,934 255 6,226

Total 2,950,283 0 66,182 111,569 60,550 123,348 36,588 41,184

Note: * Import needs estimated with previous year stocks (2015).

FOOD SECURITY IN SRI LANKA 2016

Published by : Publications Division

Department of Census and Statistics No.306/71

Polduwa Road, Battaramulla

Phone : +94 (0)112 147482 Fax : +94 (0)112 877970

E-mail: publication@statistics.gov.lk

Department of Census and Statistics

No.306/71

Polduwa Road,

Battaramulla

Tel : +94(0)11 2147000, +94(0)11 2147050

E-mail : information@statistics.gov.lk

Contd..

Source: Dept. of Census & Statistics/Sri Lanka Customs

ParticipantsParticipants of the Training with Resource Persons and Senior Officers of the DCS