The agricultural output price index decreased by 5% in May this year when compared to the same month of last year, according to figures released today, Tuesday, July 14, by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

In the same period, the input price index also decreased by 4%.

The figures show that on a monthly basis, there was a 2.2% increase in output price index in May 2020 compared to April of this year. The input price index decreased over the same period, but only by 0.4%.

Overall, this resulted in an increase in terms of trade by 2.6% in this period of two months.

Output price sub-indices

Looking at the individual sub-indices across sectors, the animal output value increased by 2.4% from April to May this year.

The cattle sub-index rose by 5.3%; cattle (excluding calves) also saw an increase of 5.2% and poultry rose by just 0.1%. The pig index declined by 4.1%.

On an annual basis from May 2019 to May 2020, the animal output sub-index decreased by 2%, with only cattle seeing a decrease of 2.5%, with the same figure decrease for cattle excluding calves. However, other sectors saw an increase from last year – with the calves index up 9%; pigs up 4.7%; sheep up 6.3%; and poultry slightly increasing by 0.3%. 

For animal products, only milk saw a difference in its price index between April and May of this month, with an increase of 1.1%. On an annual basis, the milk index fell by 4.4%, eggs increased by 0.3% and wool’s index remained static.

For crops, the cereals (including seeds) monthly price index remained unaffected, with the figures unavailable for vegetables and potatoes (including seeds); however, the overall increase was 1.2%. Comparing May 2019 to May 2020, cereals price index fell by 27.5%, vegetables fell by 1.7% and potatoes drastically decreased by 39.2%.

Input price sub-indices

Looking at the input price index, there were no changes in seeds on a monthly basis from April to May of this year, but the annual difference since May 2019 is a decrease of 7.1%.

Energy overall decreased by a total of 3.9% between April and May this year, with an electricity decrease contribution of 1%, motor fuels 4.9% and lubricants 3.5%. There was also an annual decrease of electricity by 2.5%, motor fuels by 20.9% and lubricants by 0.7%.

The fertiliser price index fell both on a monthly and yearly basis. Straight fertilisers fell by 1.7% monthly and 12% annually; compound fertilisers by 0.9% monthly and 9.2% annually; PK fertilisers by 0.1% monthly and 2.7% annually; NPK fertilisers by 0.9% monthly and 9.4% annually; and other fertilisers remained unchanged. 

There was a slight increase in plant protection products, with 0.6% monthly and 0.5% annually. Veterinary expenses remained static monthly but increased by 1.4% since last year.

Maintenance of materials and buildings saw slight increases of 0.4% monthly and 0.8% annually. There was a small fall in other goods and services of 0.1% from April to May this year and, annually, a 0.6% increase in the price index.

The increase in the feeding stuffs price index monthly was marginal, at 0.3%. Annually, the figure fell by 2.8%.

The breakdown for the feeding stuffs input sub-index is as follows:

  • Straight feeding stuffs: -0.1% monthly and -8.2% annually;
  • Compound feeding stuffs: +0.3% monthly and -2.5% annually;
  • Feeding stuffs for calves: +1% monthly and -2.9% annually;
  • Feeding stuffs for cattle (excluding calves): +0.4% monthly and -3% annually;
  • Feeding stuffs for pigs: Unchanged monthly and -2% annually;
  • Feeding stuffs for poultry: +0.3% monthly and -1.4% annually;
  • Other compound feeding stuffs: +0.2% monthly and -3.4% annually.