Archive:Agricultural wholesale trade statistics - NACE Rev. 1.1
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- Data from January 2009, most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database
This article belongs to a set of statistical articles which analyse the structure, development and characteristics of the various economic activities in the European Union (EU). According to the statistical classification of economic activities in the EU (NACE Rev. 1.1), the present article covers agricultural wholesale trade, corresponding to NACE Group 51.2, which is part of the wholesale trade sector. This article covers the wholesaling of:
- raw materials for agricultural activities (such as seeds and animal feed);
- live animals.
It does not cover the wholesaling of outputs from farming other than hides, skins and leather, and unmanufactured tobacco.
._Structural_profile,_EU-27,_2006.PNG)
Main statistical findings
Structural profile
._Structural_profile-_ranking_of_top_five_Member_States_in_terms_of_value_added_and_persons_employed,_2006.PNG)
Agricultural wholesaling (NACE Group 51.2) was the smallest of the NACE groups within the wholesale trade sector (NACE Division 51), whether measured in terms of the number of enterprises, turnover, value added or employment. Indeed, the 64.5 thousand agricultural wholesaling enterprises generated EUR 188.9 billion of turnover and EUR 14.1 billion of value added in the EU-27 in 2006, which represented 4.1 % of wholesale trade turnover and 2.7 % of wholesale trade value added. Agricultural wholesaling employed some 344.5 thousand persons in the EU-27 in 2006, 3.5 % of the total wholesale trade workforce.
Among the NACE classes that make up this sector, the wholesale of grain, seeds and animal feeds was dominant, both in terms of value added and employment, accounting for more than half of the sectoral total for both of these measures. The wholesale of flowers and plants contributed approximately one fifth of the sector's employment and value added, while the wholesale of live animals recorded shares around 15 %.
France, Germany and the Netherlands recorded the highest levels of value added and employment in the agricultural wholesale sector. Based on data from 2005 and 2006 the most specialised Member State in the agricultural wholesale sector was Hungary where these activities contributed 0.6 % of non-financial business economy (NACE Sections C to I and K) value added; older data indicate that the Netherlands was more specialised in 2004, when this sector contributed 0.8 % of non-financial business economy value added.
Expenditure and productivity
Although the investment rate in agricultural wholesaling was below the average for the non-financial business economy, at 17.6 % it was the highest among the wholesaling NACE groups. Accompanying this relatively high level of investment, agricultural wholesaling reported a low proportion of personnel costs within operating expenditure, just 4.4 %, the fourth lowest share among all of the NACE groups in the non-financial business economy for which 2005 or 2006 data are available.
EU-27 apparent labour productivity of the agricultural wholesaling sector was EUR 40.8 thousand per person employed in 2006 and average personnel costs were EUR 28.0 thousand per employee, both below the wholesale trade average. The resulting wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio was 145.6 %, some 14.2 percentage points below the wholesale trade average, and the second lowest within wholesale trades, higher only than that recorded for wholesale on a fee or contract basis.
Data sources and availability
The main part of the analysis in this article is derived from structural business statistics (SBS), including core, business statistics which are disseminated regularly, as well as information compiled on a multi-yearly basis, and the latest results from development projects.
Context
The activities in NACE Division 51 cover all wholesale trade except that concerning motor vehicles and motorcycles: the wholesaling of automotive fuel is considered as a wholesale trade rather than a motor trade. This article covers resale (sale without transformation) of new and used products, as well as wholesale activities carried out on a fee or contract basis.
The wholesaling activity consists of selling to retailers or to industrial, commercial, institutional and professional users. Wholesalers can act on a fee or contract basis as agents or for their own account, buying and selling goods. The own-account wholesale sub-sectors distinguish the types of product in which the wholesaler is specialised (agricultural products (this article), consumer goods, intermediate goods, machinery and equipment), while specialised wholesalers of other products are included in non-specialised wholesalers.
In the supply chain, wholesalers are located between producers and users, providing know-how and knowledge in markets for which they have expertise. Competition within the wholesale trade activity is often centred on providing more efficient services or more sophisticated value added services. Wholesalers can provide a range of services from basic storage and break of bulk, sorting, grading and logistics to pre- and post-production operations (for instance, labelling, packaging, bottling and installation).
Further Eurostat information
Publications
- European Business: Facts and figures - 2009 edition