Brussels, 21/12/2007 (Agence Europe) - EU27 real agricultural income per worker has risen by 4.7% in 2007 after increasing by 3.9% in 2006, according to estimates published on Thursday 20 December by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities. This 4.7% rise results from a rise in real agricultural income (+2.6%) as well as a reduction in farm labour (-1.9%). Growth in real agricultural income in the EU27 is in itself the result of: - an increase in output of agriculture at producer prices in real terms (+4.6%); - a rise in input costs (+5.3%), while depreciation remained stable, in real terms; - and a decrease in the real value of subsidies net of taxes (-3.1%).
The strongest rises in real agricultural income per worker have been estimated for Lithuania (+58.5%), the Czech Republic (+20.6%), Estonia (+19.4%) and Luxembourg (+16.2%). The largest declines were recorded in Bulgaria (-18.6%), Romania (-16.1%) and Portugal (-5.8%).
EU27 agricultural output in 2007 grew by 4.6%, mainly due to a significant increase in the value of crop production (+8.6%) (+45.4% of which was only for grain crops with declines mainly for olive oil and sugar beet).
The value of animal output remained almost stable (0.5%). The growth in the real value of milk production was driven by a rise in prices (+7.8%), while volume remained nearly stable (-0.3%). The increase in the volume of pig production (+4.3%) was outweighed by sharply falling prices (-12.3%). In the case of poultry, both production volumes (+2.9%) and producer prices (+7.8%) increased.
EU27 agricultural input costs (intermediate consumption) grew by 5.3%, mainly owing to the sharp increase in feeding stuff prices (+13.9%), which was itself the result of higher crop producer prices. Energy costs decreased by 2.8% as a result of the reduction in both volumes (-1.7%) and prices (-1.1%). (L.C.)