Second estimate of the agricultural accounts 2024: general decrease in agricultural production
The second forecasts of the economic accounts for agriculture 2024 confirm a decline in the value of production in the agricultural sector: -0.7% between 2023 and 2024.
Field crops
The decline in the value of cereal production is accentuated in the second forecast. Following a downward revision of the provisional estimate of the cereal harvest, the value of production has fallen by 25.8% in one year, compared to 20.1% in the first forecast.
For industrial crops, the decline is also confirmed with an 11.2% decrease in the value of production. This decline is largely due to the decrease in sugar beet yields and the drop in the price of white sugar, the rate of which impacts producer remuneration.
For potatoes, prices are expected to remain (fairly) stable compared to the previous season. Yield estimates, on the other hand, have been lowered, suggesting a slight contraction of 2.0% in supply between 2023 and 2024 and a decline in the value of production of 2.3%.
Horticulture
In horticulture, the increase in the value of vegetable production is corroborated by a 7.7% increase compared to 2023. Fruit is experiencing the opposite trend. The value of fruit production remains, in the second estimate, lower than that of 2023 (-14.7%). Weather conditions have adversely affected fruit yields and the volume of production has fallen by 24.4%.
Animals
As regards animal production, the second estimate confirms a situation similar to that of November, with a slight improvement over the past year: the value of production is up 1.7%, compared to 1.2% in the first forecast.
Meanwhile, eggs and pigs recorded a decrease in their production value of 9.2% and 8.1%. These poorer results are due to negative price effects on these two markets in 2024.
Economic accounts for agriculture (current prices): values at basic prices (millions of euros)
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 provisional | 2024/2023 (%) | Average 2019-2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Cereals (including seeds) | 435,9 | 490,1 | 680,8 | 823,8 | 610,6 | 452,9 | -25,8% | 608,3 |
| 2. Industrial crops | 232,8 | 230,6 | 228,4 | 303,1 | 358,6 | 318,3 | -11,2% | 270,7 |
| Sugar beet | 127,8 | 132,3 | 120,8 | 191,8 | 245,9 | 196,6 | -20,1% | 163,7 |
| 3. Forage plants | 691,5 | 718,4 | 1.003,0 | 867,1 | 644,7 | 680,9 | 5,6% | 784,9 |
| 4. Vegetables and horticultural products | 1.561,0 | 1.564,2 | 1.788,2 | 1.629,1 | 1.871,9 | 1.956,3 | 4,5% | 1.682,9 |
| Fresh vegetables | 974,4 | 985,1 | 1.124,9 | 1.047,9 | 1.230,6 | 1.325,7 | 7,7% | 1.072,6 |
| Plants and flowers | 586,6 | 579,1 | 663,2 | 581,3 | 641,4 | 630,5 | -1,7% | 610,3 |
| 5. Potatoes (including seeds) | 492,1 | 489,7 | 652,8 | 752,2 | 992,2 | 968,9 | -2,3% | 675,8 |
| 6. Fruits | 484,9 | 526,1 | 553,8 | 532,6 | 655,6 | 559,4 | -14,7% | 550,6 |
| 7. Other crop products | 27,9 | 27,9 | 27,9 | 26,7 | 28,9 | 30,1 | 4,0% | 27,8 |
| 8. Crop output (1 to 7) | 3.926,1 | 4.047,0 | 4.934,7 | 4.934,7 | 5.162,6 | 4.966,8 | -3,8% | 4.601,0 |
| 9. Animals | 3.268,9 | 3.189,5 | 3.087,9 | 3.763,4 | 3.947,1 | 3.928,3 | -0,5% | 3.451,4 |
| Cattle | 973,1 | 1.055,8 | 1.124,2 | 1.306,7 | 1.323,7 | 1.445,1 | 9,2% | 1.156,7 |
| Pigs | 1.550,0 | 1.470,3 | 1.294,2 | 1.644,5 | 1.952,6 | 1.794,4 | -8,1% | 1.582,3 |
| Poultry | 707,3 | 640,9 | 642,3 | 785,8 | 644,5 | 661,1 | 2,6% | 684,2 |
| 10. Animal products | 1.478,5 | 1.521,8 | 1.753,9 | 2.679,7 | 2.348,4 | 2.476,5 | 5,5% | 1.956,4 |
| Milk | 1.354,1 | 1.396,3 | 1.620,9 | 2.436,9 | 2.008,1 | 2.167,0 | 7,9% | 1.763,3 |
| Eggs | 123,2 | 124,3 | 131,9 | 238,5 | 334,6 | 303,9 | -9,2% | 190,5 |
| 11. Animal output (9+10) | 4.747,4 | 4.711,3 | 4.841,8 | 6.443,1 | 6.295,5 | 6.404,9 | 1,7% | 5.407,8 |
| 12. Agricultural goods output (8+11) | 8.673,5 | 8.758,3 | 9.776,5 | 11.377,8 | 11.458,1 | 11.371,7 | -0,8% | 10.008,8 |
| 13. Secondary services and activities | 190,8 | 235,9 | 285,3 | 316,3 | 311,7 | 317,2 | 1,8% | 268,0 |
| 14. Output of the agricultural industry (12+13) | 8.864,3 | 8.994,2 | 10.061,7 | 11.694,1 | 11.769,9 | 11.688,9 | -0,7% | 10.276,8 |
| 15. Intermediate consumption | 6.237,1 | 6.585,7 | 7.621,3 | 8.856,6 | 8.116,8 | 7.956,8 | -2,0% | 7.483,5 |
| 16. Fixed capital consumption | 737,4 | 822,5 | 878,6 | 912,4 | 958,0 | 977,1 | 2,0% | 861,8 |
| 17. Net value added at basic prices (14-15-16) | 1.889,9 | 1.586,1 | 1.561,8 | 1.925,2 | 2.695,1 | 2.754,9 | 2,2% | 1.931,6 |
| 18. Compensation of employees | 682,5 | 690,8 | 747,0 | 845,6 | 927,8 | 952,9 | 2,7% | 778,7 |
| 19. Other taxes on production | 3,0 | 2,9 | 3,7 | 2,2 | 2,2 | 2,2 | 0,0% | 2,8 |
| 20. Other subsidies on production | 613,3 | 630,4 | 622,5 | 644,0 | 692,0 | 657,4 | -5,0% | 640,4 |
| 21. Factor income (17-19+20) | 2.500,1 | 2.213,6 | 2.180,6 | 2.566,9 | 3.384,9 | 3.410,2 | 0,7% | 2.569,2 |
Purpose and brief description
The Economic Accounts for Agriculture (EAA) provide a systematic and comparable overview of the economic activity in the agricultural sector. They include the net value added (production account, i.e. the remuneration of all factors of production), the net operating surplus (generation of income account, i.e. yield from land, capital and non-salaried labour) and the net entrepreneurial income (entrepreneurial income account, i.e. compensation of non-salaried labour, remuneration from land belonging to units and the yield arising from the use of capital). The net value added is calculated at producer prices (i.e. without taking subsidies and taxes on products into account), on the one hand, and at factor cost or at basic prices (taking these subsidies and taxes into account), on the other hand. They are compiled for all agricultural economic units in the country, belonging to the agricultural sector. In concrete terms, this sector includes all the agricultural enterprises questioned in the agricultural surveys in May and which correspond to the definition of agricultural enterprise used in that census.
The EAA are annual and are closed in September of the year following the reference year. All sources with statistical data about agriculture, both internal and external to Statbel, are used to compile these accounts.