EU27 real agricultural income per worker has increased by 1.0% in 2012, after an increase of 8.0% in 2011, according to first estimates issued by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. This increase results from a rise in real agricultural income (+0.5%), together with a reduction in agricultural labour input (-0.5%). These estimates for the EU27 are based on data supplied by the national authorities in the Member States.

Between 2005 and 2012, EU27 real agricultural income per worker is estimated to have increased by 29.7%, while agricultural labour input has fallen by 20.0%.

The increase in EU27 real agricultural income in 2012 is mainly the result of a rise in the value of the output of the agricultural sector at producer prices in real terms (+1.8%), while input costs in real terms grew (+1.6%).

Real agricultural income per worker in 2012 is estimated to have risen in sixteen Member States and fallen in eleven. The highest increases are expected in Belgium (+30.0%), the Netherlands (+14.9%), Lithuania (+13.6%) and Germany (+12.1%), and the largest decreases in Romania (-16.4%), Hungary (-15.7%) and Slovenia (-15.1%).

In 2012, the value of EU27 agricultural output at producer prices is estimated to have increased by 1.8%, mainly due to a small increase in real terms in the value of crop production (+0.5%) and a larger one for animal production (+3.8%).

The rise in the value of crop production is due to an increase in real prices (+6.3%) counterbalanced by a decrease in volume (-5.4%). Volumes fell for most groups of crops: plants and flowers (-0.8%), fresh vegetables (-2.0%), sugar beet (-6.2%), fruits (-6.5%), cereals (-7.3%), oilseeds (-7.9%), and particularly for potatoes (-13.8%) and wine
(-15.6%). Prices rose for all groups of crops: sugar beet (+1.2%), plants and flowers (+1.4%), potatoes (+3.2%), fruits (+4.7%), wine (+6.2%), fresh vegetables (+7.8%), oilseeds (+8.8%) and cereals (+9.1%). Olive oil was the only product to show an increase in both volume (+9.2%) and price (+0.9%).

The increase in the value of animal production is mainly due to an increase in prices (+3.9%) while volume slightly decreased (-0.2%). Volumes fell for cattle (-2.4%), eggs (-1.8%), sheep and goats (-1.2%) and pigs (-1.0%), but rose for milk (+0.9%) and poultry (+2.7%). Prices fell for milk (-5.4%) and sheep and goats (-1.3%), while they rose
for poultry (+1.9%), cattle (+8.5%), pigs (+10.2%) and most significantly for eggs (+36.2%).

EU27 agricultural input costs (intermediate consumption) are estimated to have risen by 1.6% in real terms, mainly due to an increase in prices (+3.2%), in particular for maintenance of buildings (+3.5%), feedingstuffs (+3.7%), seeds and planting stocks (+4.7%), energy and lubricants (+6.3%), financial intermediation services (+6.6%) and
fertilisers and soil improvers (+6.7%).