Average EU agricultural prices rocketed by 23% last year - 4 countries raked most of it in
Sure you still want to buy from the high-priced, protectionist EU?
Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2023
We take a look at the EU’s €537.5 billion agricultural industry – soaring prices, falling output
Last year the EU’s agricultural output fell by 3.1% but the prices continued their dramatic surge over the past two years. Four countries – France, Germany, Italy and Spain – were responsible for almost 60% of this.
With the EU continuing to engage in its protectionist policies, this helps to explain why EU consumers cannot benefit from cheaper products from around the world and why the EU’s much-vaunted trade deal with Australia fell apart at the end of last month.
Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary
The soaring cost of agriculture in the EU
- Total value in 2022 : €537.5 billion
- Increase over previous year : 19.0%
- After accounting for the fall in output, overall costs rose by 22.8%
[Source : EU Commission, 16 Nov 2023.]
© Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2023 - click to enlarge
Countries can protect industries or can protect consumers – but they can’t generally do both
The agricultural lobby in Brussels is almost an industry unto itself. Try reforming the farming industry in the EU and before you can sing “I’ve got a brand-new combine harvester” there will be hundreds of French tractors blocking all the roads into Paris, dumping manure.
In terms of its contribution to the EU’s GDP, agriculture is tiny, amounting to just 1.4%. Despite this, the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) still accounts for 31% of the EU Commission’s total budget. This may be well down on where it was 20 years ago, but it remains massively disproportionate.
While the United Kingdom was still an EU member, in the last accounting period of 2014-2020, agricultural expenditure totalled a staggering €408.3 billion. [Source: EU Parliament 2023.]
The 23% average rise in costs disguises some huge variations by EU country
This sharp increase in the output value of the EU's agricultural industry in 2022 reflected the higher values in all EU Member States.
The strongest rates of increase were in Estonia (+44.4%), Poland (43.2%) and Lithuania (+42.2%). Increases of between 20% and 35% were also recorded in Latvia, Germany, Finland, Ireland, Austria, Slovakia and Slovenia.
We should stress again that actual output fell across the EU, which is why the increase in the total output value is even more shocking.
Observations
How all of this translates into the cost of food
Earlier this month we produced a report showing how the price of basic foodstuffs in the EU rose by nearly 50% since January 2021. Bizarrely, this was not “caused by Brexit”.
Somehow this never made it onto the BBC or other pro-EU media outlets.
In our report today we have shown how the costs of sustaining an uncompetitive agricultural sector in the EU have rocketed. The farming lobby in Brussels is very powerful. This is why the Common Agricultural Policy still consumes almost one-third of the EU Commission’s budget.
Forget business, which is responsible for the majority of the EU’s economic output. No, instead let’s focus on a sector responsible for only 1.4%.
This is the dysfunctional, schlerotic EU into which Rejoiners wish us to be submerged once again. If any Rejoiners wish to counter the official EU facts on which we have reported above, we’re all ears.
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[ Sources: EU Commission | EU Parliament ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.
Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Thurs 23 Nov 2023
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