Eurostat has released figures revealing key production and price trends in the EU throughout last year.
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Cereal production and prices in the European Union (EU) both slumped in 2005, compared with 2004, according to the latest food market figures from EU statistical agency Eurostat. Faced with a bumper harvest in 2004, producers struggled to secure good prices, even by cutting back on production – a process aided by poor weather. Overall EU cereal output, including rice, maize, rye, barley, oats and wheat, fell by 10.7% in 2005, with prices also falling by 8.8%. There were particularly catastrophic production falls in Spain (42%) and Portugal (39%) because of drought.
By contrast, while EU olive oil production also fell in 2005, (by 16.1%), prices for this product actually rose, by 8.1%. There were other serious production falls for potatoes (7.2%) and fruits (3.1%).
Milk prices fell by 2.5% overall, although there were some steep increases in Lithuania (26.6%) and Latvia (13.1%).
Regarding meat, cattle prices rose 3% across the EU last year, but fell for other livestock. Prices for EU pigs fell 1.4%, 3.4% for sheep and goats and 3.8% for poultry. One big meat sector change was a 14.1% annual increase in Polish poultry production. Meanwhile, for the politically contentious sugar beet sector, the EU saw a 2.8% fall in prices.
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