Fertiliser prices increased by 178% in the year up to April, according to the latest data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
The Agricultural Price Indices also reveal that the cost of fertiliser in April rose by over 16% compared to the previous month.
The report noted that energy prices jumped by 43% and feed costs rose by 27% over the 12-month timeframe.
The CSO said that the agricultural input price index was up 39.6% in the year from April 2021. On a monthly basis, the index was up by almost 5%.
You can see the input index in more detail by clicking on the image below:
The agricultural output price index was up just over 5% in a month and had increased by 24% on the April 2021 figure.
Commenting on the release, Anthony Dawson, CSO statistician, said:
“Increases can also been seen in the output price sub-indices where the monthly price of milk has risen by 6.6% in the month from March 2022 and is up almost 40% in the year, while cattle prices are up almost 21% annually.
“More generally, the monthly agricultural output price indices are up 5.1% and input price indices are up by 4.8% in the month from March 2022 to April 2022,” he continued.
“A more detailed look at the monthly output sub-indices shows increases in pig prices (+16.7%) and milk prices (+6.6%), while the monthly input sub-indices saw a growth in fertiliser prices (+16.1%) and feed prices (+5.3%).
“As a result, the terms of trade for April 2022 were up by .3%,” he said.
“Annually, the agricultural output prices index is up 24% while the input price index is up 39.6%. The resulting annual change in the terms of trade was down 11.2%,” Dawson concluded.