Increased fertiliser prices have been on the rise for some time, and the latest comparative figures from January 2021 to January 2022 is still staggering at 127%. Prices have therefore more than doubled the Central Statistics Office (CSO) finds.
One of the main observations being that the rising cost of farm inputs has not been reflected in equivalent price increases paid for farm produce.
The CSO Agricultural Price Indices for January 2022 also shows that milk prices were up 29.7% in January this year, when compared with that month in 2021. So, the resulting agricultural terms of trade index has decreased by 5.3% since December.
Feed has also undergone price hikes – the price overall was up 18.2% between January 2021 and January 2022, with the latest monthly increase, between December and January, around 3.3%. The cost of feed for the pig sector has seen the greatest increase at 20.1% between January 2021 and January this year, while the cost of poultry feed increased by 10.1% over the same time period.
The prices paid to Irish farmers for vegetables did not increase at all, while pig prices went back 8.1%, and calf prices decreased by 30.5%.
Overall, statistician Anthony Dawson’s comments that, “The most significant change is in the price of fertilisers, where the price index is up 127.2% on prices in January 2021.”
LSL News.