The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (Tuesday, November 11) released the Agricultural Price Indices for August 2022, which reveals that the price of fertiliser has risen by 127% since August last year.
The data shows that the agricultural input price index is up by 38.2% in the 12 months to August 2021, while the agricultural output price index rose by 30.5% over the same period.
The annual terms of trade fell 5.6% when compared with August 2021.
The indices monitor trends in prices paid to farmers for their produce and in prices paid by farmers for purchases of goods and services.
According to the CSO, input price increases can be seen in fertiliser prices which are up 127.8%, energy prices which are up 40.8%, and feed prices which have increased by 35.8% in the last 12 months.
On a monthly basis the agricultural output price index was up by 1.2% in comparison with July 2022.
The monthly terms of trade increased by 1.1% when compared with July 2022.
Commenting on the release, Dr. Grzegorz Glaczynski, statistician in the Agriculture Section of the CSO said:
“Both the input and output price indices have been rising steadily since the beginning of 2021 with sharper increases seen in the first six months of this year, though plateauing since June 2022.
“The overall input price index increased marginally since July 2022, while the underlying input sub-indices saw a monthly reduction in the price of energy of 5.4%, but a 1.3% growth in feed prices and a 0.7% increase in fertiliser prices.
“On an annual basis compared to August 2021, input prices rose for fertiliser by 127.8%, energy by 40.8%, and feeding stuffs by 35.8%.
“The agricultural output price index was up 1.2% from July 2022 to August 2022. A more detailed look at the output sub-indices shows monthly increases in cattle prices of 5.2%, pig prices were up 3.5%, and milk prices increased by 1.3%.”
Looking at the year since August 2021, the price of milk has risen by 51.8%, cattle prices have increased by 24.4%, and there has been a slight increase in crop prices of 0.3%.
Annually, the agricultural input price index is up 38.2% while the output price index is up 30.5%, resulting in a drop of 5.6% in the annual terms of trade.