World meat industry news

Real agricultural income in the European Union (EU) has fallen by 6.0 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, while agricultural labour input has dropped by 1.8 per cent.

As a result, real agricultural income per worker in the EU has decreased by 4.3 per cent in 2015, according to first estimates from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Across the EU Member States, real agricultural income per worker in 2015 is expected to have risen in thirteen Member States and fallen in fifteen compared with previous year, albeit in different proportions.

The largest increase of real agricultural income per worker was in Croatia, with a rise of 21.5 per cent, whilst the largest decline was in Germany with a decrease of 37.6 per cent.

Other countries with a substantial decline in agricultural income include Poland (-23.8 per cent), Denmark (-19.7 per cent), the UK (-19.3 per cent) and Romania (-19.2 per cent).

Between 2010 and 2015, EU real agricultural income per worker is estimated to have decreased by 5.7 per cent.

Over this period, real agricultural income per worker has risen in ten Member States, notably in Italy, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Ireland, while falls were recorded in eighteen Member States, with the largest being registered in Finland, Germany, Romania, Poland, Malta and Luxembourg.