The economic accounts for agriculture show that total agricultural output in the European Union (EU) stood at €434.3 billion in basic prices in 2018, slightly up (by 0.6%) compared with 2017. In 2018, the equivalent of 58.2% (or €252.6 bn) of the value of agricultural output generated was spent on intermediate consumption (input goods and services), while gross value added (i.e. the value of output minus the value of intermediate consumption) was the equivalent of 41.8% (or €181.7 bn). The combination of the limited increase in the value of agricultural output and a stronger increase in intermediate consumption (+3.8%) resulted in a decrease in the gross value added ( 3.5%) generated by the EU agricultural industry in 2018 compared with 2017.