The economic accounts for agriculture show that total agricultural output in the European Union (EU) stood at €418.0 billion in basic prices in 2019, up by 2.4% compared with 2018.
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In 2019, the equivalent of 56.6% (or €236.5 bn) of the value of agricultural output generated was spent on intermediate consumption (input goods and services), while gross value added (i.e. the value of output minus the value of intermediate consumption) was the equivalent of 43.4% (or €181.5 bn).
The combination of the increase in the value of agricultural output and a limited increase in intermediate consumption (+0.8%) resulted in a strong increase in the gross value added (+4.5%) generated by the EU agricultural industry in 2019 compared with 2018.
With €77.0 bn (or about 18% of the EU total) in 2019, France had the highest total agricultural output among Member States, followed by Germany (€58.2 bn, or 14%), Italy (€57.8 bn, or also 14%) and Spain (€51.7 bn, or 12%), the Netherlands (€29.1 bn, or 7%), Poland (€26.4 bn, or 6%) and Romania (€19.0 bn, or 5%).
Highest rise of agricultural output in Latvia
In three quarters of the EU Member States, the value of agricultural output increased in 2019, while in the other EU Member States it decreased. The highest increases, in relative terms, were recorded in Latvia (+21.1%) and Estonia (+16.1%). In contrast, the value of agricultural output decreased the most in Slovenia (-3.3%) and Slovakia (-2.4%).
Among the Member States with the largest agricultural industry, the value of total agricultural output increased by 10.6% in Germany, while it decreased slightly in France (-1.6%), Italy (-1.2%) and Spain (-0.9%).
Increases for rye and meslin, hops, potatoes, pigs and milk
A price change or a volume change, or a combination of the two, influence the value of agricultural output.
The value of EU crop output increased by 1.8%, with volume up by 2.2% and prices down by 0.3%. The rise was mainly due to increases of 29.5% for rye and meslin, 23.5% for hops, 20.4% for potatoes and 15.3% for olive oil. EU animal output increased in value (+3.6%) in 2019 compared with 2018, with prices up by 3.5% and volume stable.
The higher value in 2019 was mainly due to increases of 14.6% for pigs, 3.2% for milk and 1.8% for sheep and goats, mostly as a result of increases in prices.
Although the value of agricultural services (output) increased by 2.0% in 2019 compared with 2018, partially offset by the decrease of other agricultural activities (inseparable), their impact on the overall evolution of agricultural output is not significant.
EU agricultural input costs (intermediate consumption) increased slightly in value (+0.8%). The increase is mainly due to higher value of seeds and planting stocks (+4.5%) and maintenance of buildings (+3.0%), although this was partially compensated by a decrease for electricity and gas.
The European Union (EU) includes Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden. ■