The agricultural output price index increased by 0.1% in February 2019 compared with January 2019, according to figures released today, Thursday, April 11, by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

However, the agricultural input price index has remained unchanged over the same period. Thus, the resulting terms of trade index increased by 0.1% in February 2019.

However, the sales of animals between agricultural units is excluded. Deductible VAT and third party levies are also excluded.

On an annual basis, the agricultural input price index increased by 5.2% in February 2019 compared with February 2018 according to the results, which also show that the agricultural output price index was down by 2.6% in February 2019 compared with February 2018.

When the February 2019 output sub-indices are compared with the February 2018 sub-indices, they show that milk and cattle decreased by 10.3% and 7.5% respectively.

On the input side, the largest increases were in feeding stuffs and fertilisers, which were up 10.1% and 9.1% respectively on February 2018 figures.