DUBLIN, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- A total of 37,436 acres (about 15,162 hectares) of agricultural land were sold in Ireland in 2018, up by 13.5 percent when compared with 2017, according to the latest figures released by the country's statistics bureau CSO.
The total value of the agricultural land sold in the country last year stood at 210.8 million euros (about 235 million U.S. dollars) with price for per acre of agricultural land averaging 5,631 euros, said the CSO.
In 2018, arable land accounted for 1,731 acres or 4.62 percent of the total volume of agricultural land traded in Ireland with the remaining 35,705 acres or 95.38 percent to be balanced by permanent grassland, it said.
The average price for per acre of arable land sold in Ireland last year stood at 11,148 euros, more than two times higher than that of permanent grassland which stood at 5,363 euros, according to the CSO.
The CSO figures also showed that in 2018 the mid-east part of Ireland was the most expensive place to purchase agricultural land with average price for per acre of agricultural land standing at 9,013 euros compared to the lowest average price of agricultural land recorded in the border region where an acre of land was only 3,469 euros.
The border region refers to the areas in north and northwest Ireland, which border with Britain's Northern Ireland.
In 2018, the highest price of agricultural land was in Dublin where the average price for per acre of agricultural land reaching 16,686 euros, said the CSO. (One acre=0.405 hectare, one euro=1.116 U.S. dollars)
