The agricultural output price index decreased by 3.6% in August 2018 compared with July 2018, according to the latest figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

Meanwhile, the agricultural input price index increased by 1.0% over the same period.

The resulting terms of trade index decreased by 4.6% in August 2018, the CSO noted.

This followed a previous trade index decrease of 1.1% in July 2018, as reported last month.

On an annual basis, the agricultural output price index was down 6.6% in August 2018 compared with August 2017. The agricultural input price index increased by 5.9% in August 2018 compared with August 2017.

Source: Central Statistics Office

A further comparison of the August 2018 output sub-indices with the August 2017 sub-indices shows that pigs, milk and cattle decreased by 15.3%, 11.1% and 7.3% respectively.

Sheep remained steady, with a 0.1% increase, while poultry dropped marginally by 0.5%.

On the crop front, cereals saw no change in price index in August, but potatoes skyrocketed, seeing a 133.8% rise.

Fruit and vegetables also saw a 16.1% boost.

On the input side, the largest increases were in energy, fertilisers and feeding stuffs which were up 15.2%, 9.9% and 6.6% respectively on August 2017 prices.

Regarding feeding stuffs, straights saw the largest rise, climbing by 13.4%, while feeding stuffs for calves rose by 9.8%. Compound feeding stuffs rose by 6.3%.