The agricultural output in the European Union (EU) rose by 6.2% in 2017 when compared to the previous year, according to the latest economic accounts for agriculture published by Eurostat.

The accounts detail that the total agricultural output in the EU reached €432.6bn in basic prices last year.

The figures show that the increase in 2017 was largely due to a rise in animal outputs, with a rise of 20.2% for milk, 17.9% for eggs and 11.6% for pigs – with higher prices helping to drive this increase.

Meanwhile, the value of EU crop output increased by 3.6% – with volume rising by 1.7% and prices up by 1.9%.

Of the member states, France had the highest total agricultural output at €72.6bn (17% of total EU output) and the UK accounted for 7% of the total, at €31.8bn. Within the UK, the value of agricultural output rose by 12.6% in 2017 compared with 2016.