Primary sector

🌾 Primary sector

Agriculture, livestock and fishing: where Spain is number one in the European Union and where it is not. Each product is measured by its share of the total for the 27 and compared with Spain's share of the EU population (10.9 %): a 50 % share is 4.6 times «its fair share» by population. Values in euros are per inhabitant and adjusted for inflation.

Where Spain is number one in the EU

Of the 64 indicators of production, area, livestock, fishing and exports compared here, Spain is first in the EU in 34 and among the top three in 56: it is 1st in 19 of 34 crop indicators, 4 of 9 livestock indicators, 3 of 5 fishing and aquaculture indicators and 8 of 16 export indicators. The highest production shares are those of aguacate (71 %), almendra (70 %), ajo (67 %), mandarina y pequeños cítricos (60 %), aceituna (58 %), limón y lima (58 %). In 41 indicators Spain's share is at least double its population weight.

The full table, with the rank and «times its population weight» (Spain's share divided by its share of the EU population; 1 is its fair share by population). The year is the latest with data for almost all countries; the last column gives the first country, or the second when Spain is first.

Where Spain is far from the top places (crops and livestock, from worst to best): patata (7th), leche de vaca (7th), maíz en grano (6th), manzana (5th), trigo (5th), girasol (5th), cereales (4th).

Europe's market garden

Spain produces 23.3 % of the EU's fresh vegetables (including melon and strawberries), 301 kg per inhabitant compared with an EU average of 141, and 31.5 % of the value of fruit (including citrus, grapes and olives). In 2025 exports it ranks 1st in vegetables (28.1 % of what the 27 export, including what they sell to each other) and 1st in fruit and nuts (27.9 %); in citrus it reaches 56.5 %. In tomatoes the leading producer is Italia: Spain has 23.9 %.

In exports, the Netherlands appears inflated because it re-exports from Rotterdam what it imports from outside; and all figures include intra-EU trade.

Olive oil

According to the European Commission, in the 2024/25 season (October to September) Spain produced 1,421 thousand tonnes, 66.0 % of the EU's oil and 29.1 kg per inhabitant. Since 2013/14 its average share has been 63.6 %; the lowest was in 2022/23 (47.8 %), with 666 thousand tonnes, and peak production, 1,790, was reached in 2018/19.

The 2025/26 season is still an estimate: 1,302 thousand tonnes, 63.7 % of the EU and 37.8 % of the IOC's world forecast.

Outside the EU, the International Olive Council (IOC) puts world production for 2024/25 at 3,572 thousand tonnes: Spain, with 1,419, was first and produced 2.8 times as much as the second, Turquía. Spain is also the EU's largest exporter: 57.8 % of the oil sold by the 27 by volume and 51.6 % in euros.

The farm-gate price of extra virgin oil in Spanish markets, in euros of 08/2026, peaked in 01/2024 at 9.85 €/kg; in 08/2026 it stood at 3.59 €/kg, compared with an average of 4.14 €/kg in today's money between 2015 and 2019.

Wine

Spain has the largest vineyard area in the world: 919 thousand hectares in 2025, 13.1 % of the world total according to the OIV. In wine it is the world's 3rd largest producer (28.7 million hectolitres, 12.6 %) and 2nd largest exporter by volume (19.6 million hectolitres); by value it exports 3.0 billion euros, compared with 11.2 for France and 7.8 for Italy.

The difference lies in the price: in 2025 the wine Spain exported sold at 1.50 € per kilo (almost the same as per litre), compared with 3.70 € for Italian wine and 8.62 € for French.

Beware of the agricultural accounts: Eurostat's «value of wine» puts Spain at 5.4 % of the EU because it only counts wine made by the farms themselves; in Spain most is made by wineries and cooperatives outside the agricultural industry and is recorded as grapes sold. To compare wine, the OIV or vineyard area are better.

Livestock

Spain is first in the EU in pigmeat (24.0 %, ahead of Alemania) and in sheepmeat (27.3 %). It has 682 pigs per 1,000 inhabitants, compared with 291 in the EU. Its share of pigmeat has gone from 14.6 % in 2004 to 24.0 %. In poultry it ranks 2nd (13.7 %, behind Polonia) and in beef 3rd (11.2 %). The weak point is milk: it ranks 7th, with 4.7 % of the EU and 139 kg of cow's milk delivered per inhabitant, less than half the average (325 kg).

The sheep population is only published by countries with more than 500,000 sheep, and meat is that slaughtered in slaughterhouses (it does not include animals exported live).

Fishing and aquaculture

Spain is first in the EU in catches, in aquaculture (in tonnes: 24.4 %, mostly mussels) and in fleet tonnage (24.4 % of capacity). By number of vessels it ranks 3rd (8,324 vessels): its boats are larger than average. By value of aquaculture the leader is Francia and Spain has 18.6 %.

Catches call for caution: several countries have stopped publishing on Eurostat (in 2024 IE, LV, PT are missing). Over those that publish, Spain caught 23.9 % (665 thousand t); adding the latest known figure for the missing ones to the total, the prudent share is 20.0 %, which is the figure to use. Per inhabitant (13.6 kg) Spain ranks 6th: first is Dinamarca, with 78 kg.

What farming is worth

The agricultural industry (crops and livestock, excluding fishing and forestry) produced 1,483 € per inhabitant in Spain in 2025, compared with 1,198 € in the EU-27; in value added, once feed, fertilisers, energy and other inputs are deducted, 842 € per inhabitant remain (557 € in the EU). Among the 9 countries compared here, Spain ranks 2nd per inhabitant; first is Países Bajos. Without the effect of prices (in volume), output per inhabitant has grown by 19.0 % since 2005.

Agricultural income per annual work unit (what is left to pay for labour, land and capital, in 2020 euros adjusted for inflation) was 40,493 € in Spain in 2025, compared with an EU average of 24,580 €.

By product, the value of output confirms the ranking in tonnes: Spain is first in olive oil, fruit and pigmeat, and lags far behind in milk and in the wine of the agricultural accounts.

By region and province

The primary sector (agriculture, livestock, forestry and fishing) generated 3.0 % of Spain's value added in 2024 (4.1 % in 2000), 928 € per inhabitant. The regions where it weighs most are Extremadura, Castilla-La Mancha, Aragón; Aragón is where it produces most per inhabitant (2,573 €). By province (2023), those where it weighs most are Almería (17.4 %), Huesca (16.6 %), Lugo (13.6 %), Cuenca (13.2 %), Salamanca (12.2 %); in 7 provinces it exceeds 10 %.

Eurostat only gives arable crops by region. In cereals, Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha, Aragón account for 70.6 % of Spain's 2024 harvest:

Methodology and sources

• Crop production: Eurostat apro_cpsh1 (harvested production at EU standard humidity and area) and, by region, apro_cpshr.
• Livestock: apro_mt_pann (meat from slaughterhouse slaughterings, carcass weight), apro_mt_lspig, apro_mt_lssheep and apro_mt_lscatl (November-December livestock numbers) and apro_mk_cola (milk delivered to dairies).
• Fishing: fish_ca_main (catches in live weight), fish_aq2a (aquaculture) and fish_fleet_alt (fleet at 31 December). Ireland, Latvia and Portugal have not published catches in recent years: the prudent share adds their latest known figure to the total.
• Value of output and agricultural income: Eurostat economic accounts for agriculture, aact_eaa01 (at basic prices), aact_eaa04 (volume) and aact_eaa06 (real income per AWU). Today's euros: Spain with the INE's CPI; to compare countries, each with its own GDP deflator (nama_10_gdp).
• Exports: Eurostat Comext (DS-045409), to all destinations, including intra-EU trade.
• By region and province: gross value added of industry A, Eurostat nama_10r_3gva, which reproduces the INE's Regional Accounts. Population from the INE and Eurostat (nama_10_pe).
• Olive oil: production by season and farm-gate prices from the European Commission, Agri-food data portal (the latest season is an estimate; the monthly price is the average of the country's weekly market quotations, in today's euros using Spain's CPI). World production: International Olive Council, Olive sector statistics (December 2025), figures cited with source.
• Wine and vineyards worldwide: OIV, State of the World Wine Sector in 2025 (May 2026), figures cited with source.
• Shares: Spain over the sum of the 27 countries with data, in the latest year with data for almost all of them (coverage of at least 97 %). «Times its population weight» = Spain's share / Spain's share of the EU-27 population.