Romania’s real agricultural income per worker registers the sharpest decrease in the EU in 2012

Romania’s real agricultural income per worker is estimated to have dropped by 16.4 percent in 2012 compared to the previous year, the highest decrease in the EU, according to first estimates issued by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Real agricultural income per worker in 2012 is estimated to have risen in sixteen member states and fallen in eleven. Other countries which have reported large decreases include Hungary(-15.7 percent) and Slovenia(-15.1 percent). The highest increases are expected in Belgium(+30.0 percent), the Netherlands(+14.9 percent), Lithuania(+13.6 percent) and Germany(+12.1 percent).

Overall, the EU27 real agricultural income per worker has increased by one percentage point in 2012, after an increase of 8.0 percent in 2011. “This increase results from a rise in real agricultural income (+0.5%), together with a reduction in agricultural labour input (-0.5%)”, reads Eurostat’s press release.

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

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