The agricultural input and output price indices were both up by over 10% in August 2021 compared to the same month last year.
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (Tuesday, October 12) published the agricultural price indices for August.
The agricultural output price index decreased by 1.1% in August 2021 compared with July 2021.
Meanwhile, the agricultural input price index increased by 0.7% over the same period.
On an annual basis, the agricultural input price index increased by 10.1% in August 2021 compared with August 2020.
The agricultural output price index increased by 10.6% in the year.
Agri input and output
A further comparison of the August 2021 output sub-indices with the August 2020 sub-indices shows that cattle increased by 13.5%.
Sheep and milk increased by 17.9% and 14.8% respectively, while pigs decreased by 2.7%, poultry by 0.2% and crops by 0.9%.
Eggs increased by 5% on last year and wool is up 13.7%.
On the input side, energy increased by 19.4% from August 2020, with motor fuels specifically increasing by 20.2% and electricity by 18.9%.
Fertiliser increased by 25.4% on last year, and feeding stuffs is up 11.1%.
Measure trends
The agricultural output price indices are intended to measure trends in the price of agricultural produce sold by farmers.
The agricultural input price indices are designed to measure trends in the price of farm inputs purchased for current consumption.
Both indices are compiled on the average farm concept. The average farm concept includes both sales to other economic sectors as well as sales/purchases of agricultural output between agricultural units for intermediate consumption purposes, excluding trade in animals between agricultural units.
The actual prices used for the index series are based on the market price without the deduction of bonuses, taxes or levies with the exception of deductible VAT and third-party levies.