Agriculture sector experiences lowest returns since 2012

The decrease in ‘factor income’ was mainly driven by a significant decrease in subsidies 

In 2016, factor income of the agriculture sector decreased by 26.7%, going from €83.7 million in 2015, to €61.4 million in 2016, according to statistics published by the National Statistics Office (NSO).

Factor income the result of agricultural output, subsidies and intermediate consumption – the total expenditure related to the agricultural process.

While the industry’s gross production decreased by 2.4% between 2015 and 2016, there was a 79% decrease in subsidies received. In 2015, the sector received €28.2 million in subsidies which was slashed to €5.9 million in 2016.

In fact, subsidies accounted for more than 30% of factor income in 2015, and just under 10% in 2016.

According to the statistics, the ‘final production at basic prices’ – the total value of agricultural goods including losses, subsidies to related to production and the net of VAT – decreased by 2.4% over the previous year, with the largest decreases being registered in the production of pork (-12.5%), forage crop products (-33.2%), fruits (-16.8%) and wine (-29.4%).