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Agricultural Price Indices March 2022

Agricultural input price index shows fertiliser prices up by 149% in the year to March 2022

Online ISSN: 2009-5163
CSO statistical publication, , 11am

Key Findings

  • Agricultural input price index up by 34.8% in the year from March 2021

  • Agricultural output price index up by 21.8% in the same period

  • The annual terms of trade was down 9.7% compared to March 2021

  • Input price increases can also be seen in energy prices which rose by 54.9% and in feed prices which are up 22.6% in the year.

  • On a monthly basis, the agricultural input price index was also up almost 7% in the same time period

  • The agricultural output price index was up by almost 5% when compared with February 2022

  • The monthly terms of trade was down almost 2% in the month of March 2022

Statistician's Comment

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (11 May 2022) released Agricultural Price Indices March 2022.

Commenting on the release, Anthony Dawson, Statistician, said: "Today's release details price indices for March 2022. The most significant change is in the price of fertilisers where the price index is up 11.7% in the month from February 2022 and has increased by 149% in the year from March 2021. This trend of input price increases is also seen in energy and feed prices which are up 54.9% and 22.6% respectively in the year.

Increases can also been seen in the output price sub-indices where the monthly price of milk has risen by 6.1% in the month from February 2022 and is up more than 32% in the year while cattle prices are up more than 22% annually.

More generally, the monthly agricultural output price indices is up 4.7% and input price indices is up by 6.7% in the month from February 2022 to March 2022. A more detailed look at the monthly output sub-indices shows increases in milk prices (+6.1%), while the monthly input sub-indices saw a growth in energy prices (+21.8%) and feed prices (+3.1%). As a result,  the terms of trade for March 2022 was down by 1.8%.

Annually, the agricultural output prices index is up 21.8% while the input price index is up 34.8%. The resulting annual change in the terms of trade was down 9.7%."

Agricultural Price Indices - March 2022
 OutputInputTerms of Trade
 Base year 2015=100
March 2021111.1106.4104.4
February 2022129.2134.596.0
March 2022135.3143.594.3
Monthly % Change4.7%6.7%-1.8%
Annual % Change21.8%34.8%-9.7%
Total outputsTotal inputs
Jan 2019104.101105.654
Feb 2019104.274105.649
Mar 2019103.945105.929
Apr 2019104.302106.033
May 2019107.743105.774
Jun 2019107.416105.489
Jul 2019102.366105.173
Aug 201997.619104.931
Sep 201999.458104.454
Oct 2019100.807104.264
Nov 2019101.401103.66
Dec 2019103.969103.481
Jan 2020105.565104.307
Feb 2020106.971102.954
Mar 2020103.906102.481
Apr 2020100.15101.965
May 2020102.35101.575
Jun 2020102.853101.768
Jul 2020104.228101.815
Aug 2020103.694101.728
Sep 2020105.292101.44
Oct 2020105.112101.709
Nov 2020104.791102.156
Dec 2020105.91102.424
Jan 2021106.502103.407
Feb 2021108.461104.843
Mar 2021111.102106.397
Apr 2021113.791107.715
May 2021116.124109.121
Jun 2021116.499110.247
Jul 2021115.991111.187
Aug 2021116.471111.983
Sep 2021119.413113.561
Oct 2021119.95117.724
Nov 2021119.869119.43
Dec 2021124.599123.849
Jan 2022125.615130.686
Feb 2022129.16134.483
Mar 2022135.291143.469
Table 1 Agricultural Output Price Index (excluding VAT)

Table 2 Agricultural Input Price Index (excluding VAT)