Brussels, 22/12/2011 (Agence Europe) - Real farm income per worker rose by 6.7% in the EU27 in 2011, after a 12.6% fall in 2010, according to initial estimates published on 19 December by Eurostat, the EU statistical office. The rise is due to a real increase in farm income of 3.9% combined with a reduction in farm labour costs (-2.7%). Estimates suggest that real farm income per worker rose by 18.3% in the EU27 between 2005 and 2011, while agricultural labour input fell by 15.2%.
The highest rises are expected in Romania (43.7%), Hungary (41.8%), Ireland (30.1%), Slovakia (25.3%), Luxembourg (25.2%), the Czech Republic (23.5%), Bulgaria (23.2%) and Denmark (20.2%), and the greatest falls in Belgium (-22.5%), Malta (-21.2%), Portugal (-10.7%) and Finland (-9.6%). In 2011, the value of farm output to producer prices will rise in the EU27 by an estimated 7.5%, mainly due to the rise in (1) the value of horticultural output (vegetables up 8.0%). The highest rises are for cereals (up 18.9%), oilseeds (up 18.4%), sugar beet (up 3.6%) and wine (up 2.3%); (2) the value of livestock production (up 7.8%). Prices have risen for milk (+9.1%), poultry (+8.7%), cattle (+8.6%), sheep and goats (+6.4%) and pigs (+4.3%). (LC/transl.fl)