Malta with second largest drop in agricultural output in 2017

Malta experienced the second largest drop in agricultural output from among the EU member states in 2017, data published by Eurostat, the EU’s statistical agency, shows.

The data shows that total agricultural output in Malta in 2017 decreased by 3.1%.

Crop output decreased by 5.6% and animal output decreased by 1.7%

The total agricultural output in Malta stood at around €100 million.

The total agricultural output in the European Union (EU) stood at €432.6 billion in basic prices in 2017, up by 6.2% compared with 2016. In 2017, the equivalent of 56% (or €244.1 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 44% (or €188.5bn).

With €72.6bn (or 17% of the EU total) in 2017, France had the highest total agricultural output among Member States. It was followed by Germany (€56.2bn, or 13%), Italy (€55.1bn, or 13%), Spain (€50.6bn, or 12%), the United Kingdom (€31.8bn, or 7%), the Netherlands (€28.9bn, or 7%), Poland (€24.9bn, or 6%) and Romania (€17.5bn, or 4%).

In almost all EU Member States, the value of agricultural output increased in 2017.

The highest increase, in relative terms, was recorded in Estonia (+18.2%), ahead of Ireland (+13.6%), Romania (+13.2%), the United Kingdom (+12.6%) and Poland (+11.1%).

In contrast, the value of agricultural output decreased in Slovenia (-4.7%) and Malta (-3.1%), and remained stable in Croatia and Slovakia.

Among the Member States with the largest agricultural industry, the value of total agricultural output increased by 8.6% in Germany, 4.5 % in Spain, 3.2% in France and 2.2% in Italy.

Significant increases in the values of milk, eggs and pigs output

The value of agricultural production is influenced by a price change or a volume change (or a combination of the two).

The 6.2% increase in EU agricultural output in 2017 compared with 2016 can be largely attributed to an increase in the value of animal output (+10.3%), itself largely reflecting an increase in prices (+10.3%).

The higher value of animal output in 2017 was due mainly to rises of 20.2% for milk, 17.9% for eggs and 11.6% for pigs, mostly as a result of increases in prices.

The value of crop output increased in the EU by 3.6%, with volume up by 1.7% and prices up by 1.9%.

The rise was mainly due to increases of10.2% for wheat and spelt and of 7.7% for industrial crops.

EU agricultural input costs (intermediate consumption) increased (+1.8%). This was mainly due to a rise of 5.9% for energy and lubricants, although this was partially offset by a decrease for fertilisers and soil improvers of 4.9%.