Brussels, 27/04/2001 (Agence Europe) - Although agricultural production fell in the European Union in 1999 compared to 1998 (-4.9%), the fall was even greater in the countries candidates for accession, according to estimates recently published by Eurostat. This was the case for Romania (-11.7%), Latvia (-17.1%), the Czech Republic (-13.5%), Poland (-11.7%), Slovakia (-11.2%) and Bulgaria (-10.2%). More moderate falls "nevertheless significant" were observed on Slovenia (-6.2%), Hungary (-6.9%), Lithuania (-7.9%) and Cyprus (-9.4%). The substantial fall in production prices in candidate countries is essentially attributable to a steep fall in the price of animal products, as well as a fall in the price of plant products. The fall in real prices for animals and animal products is situated between -4.4% in Cyprus and -24.9% in Bulgaria. The production price for plant products fell between 0.7% in Hungary and -16.8% in the Czech Republic.
Concerning average agricultural production, price indexes for current consumer goods and services in this sector were available for 19999 for four candidate countries: prices fell by 8% in Cyprus, 6.7% in Slovakia and increased by 2.9% in Poland and 6.3% in Lithuania.