Some bright spots after a historically difficult year 2018 for the agricultural sector

The first estimates of farmers’ incomes for the year 2019 made by Statbel¹, the Belgian statistical office, have been submitted to the European Commission (Eurostat).

• After a year 2018 that put a large part of the agricultural sector to the test, the first observations on this year and season 2019 seem to be better: the sector’s net value added would increase by 27.3 %, but without exceeding the 2017 results.
• Both crop and livestock productions have registered value increases of around 6 %.

In 2019, the agricultural industry’s turnover has increased by 6.2 % and intermediate consumptions by 2.8 %. The sector’s net value added is therefore higher than the previous year and the average of the last five years. In general, the medium-term analysis of the agricultural industry’s production value reveals high variability due to the unpredictable nature of crop yields and to price volatility. 

1 In cooperation with regional authorities and experts.