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FEWS NET Product and Service Code Structure

Background

In 2014, FEWS NET joined an effort with FAO and WFP to define and meet each institution’s product coding needs within the general bounds of a common product coding structure that would guarantee a high level of consistency and comparability among the codes used by these organizations to classify crop production and monitor food prices. In a collaborative report published in 2014 by the UN-based Food Security Information Network1, a common framework and agreement was reached about product coding.

Code structure

FEWS NET product codes are derived from existing CPC V2 codes and built in a consistent manner consisting of three parts:

  1. Each code begins with a one-character alpha-code prefix that FEWS NET uses to split its product and service codes into 4 distinct sub-groups2:

    1. R: “raw” un-processed3 agricultural product

    2. L: animal/livestock product

    3. P: manufactured or “processed” product

    4. S: service product

  2. This is followed by a 2- to 5-character numeric code taken directly from the CPC .

  3. FEWS NET appends a two-character “alpha” code (e.g. “AA”) to the end of each to allow for easy differentiation between sub-types of products.

Example

The FEWS NET code for wheat grain, with no other identifying crop information, is R01112AA:

  1. R: It is a “raw” un-processed agricultural product

  2. 01112: The CPC code for wheat grain is “01112”.  The “011” portion of the code refers to a cereal, in general.  The fourth character, “1,” refers to wheat. The fifth character, “2,” means this cereal grain is used for consumption. A final character of “1” is reserved to indicate a cereal grain intended for planting purposes. 

  3. AA: For R01112, AA is used for the generic “wheat grain, other.” A different set of suffix letters is used for soft red winter wheat (AB), einkorn wheat (AJ), etc.

This modified product and services coding system based on a well known standard allows FEWS NET to:

  1. Preserve a link between local product names and descriptions and a more global classification of products, allowing appropriate terminology to be used at each level of discussion/investigation.

  2. Recognize, group, and distinguish between specific products that play a role in the food security status of a population group or geographic area.

  3. Differentiate specific crop plants from others on the basis not only of genetic features but also non-genetic features, often locally identified (taste, color, smell, mouth-feel, health benefits, preparation practices, market preferences, etc.).

[1] “Review of Global Food Prices Databases: Overlaps, Gaps and Opportunities to Improve Harmonization”, Food Security Information Network, December 2014

[2] The alpha-numeric code at the beginning of the FEWS NET-derived CPC code serves also to avoid losing the initial “0” which begins many CPC V2 crop codes, when they are used in Excel. 

[3] Un-processed crops are meant to refer to the crop plant, as it comes from the field, with no other processing applied to it.  Nevertheless, “drying” a crop is not considered a processing operation. The “de-husking” of rice is another notable processing practice which is not considered a “processing” operation.