Portugal leads agricultural growth in the EU

Lisbon: With 12.22 billion euros produced, it increased by 14% compared to the previous year, thus escaping the downward trend of 1.5% recorded in European Union.

In 2023, agricultural production in the EU was valued at €537.1 billion at base prices, which represents a 1.5% decrease compared to the previous year (€545.4 billion), according to data from Eurostat.

“This slight drop in relation to the maximum production value in 2022 put an end to the upward trend that began in 2010”, writes the European statistical institute. “This variation in the nominal value reflected the balance of a drop in production volume (-2.3%) and a slight increase in the nominal price for agricultural goods and services (+0.8%)”, details Eurostat.

The data reveals that volumes increased in 11 countries. The most significant growth was recorded in Portugal (+14.6%) and Hungary (+11%), Cyprus (+7.8%) and Switzerland (+4.79%), but with very different production volumes. At the opposite extreme are Latvia (-20.5%), Estonia (-19.4%) and Bulgaria (-18.19%).

Among the countries with the highest production historically, there were falls in France, with 95.77 billion euros in 2023, a reduction of 1.61%; and in Germany, which produced 76.14 billion euros last year, 2.28% less than the previous year.