Business

Cost of milk falls by ‘signficiant’ 8.6%

Fertiliser prices come down by 14%

Roger Fahy in the milking parlour on the farm near new Quay, Co Clare. The most significant monthly change in output prices in April was for milk, which dropped by 8.6 per cent. Photograph: Eamon Ward

Ellen O'Regan
Tue Jun 13 2023 - 17:39

The price of milk dropped by a “significant” 8.6 per cent in April, according to latest Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures which show continuing decreases in both the cost of agricultural produce and materials since the beginning of the year.

Agricultural price indexes for April show milk prices dropped by 8.6 per cent from the previous month, while pig prices increased by 3.5 per cent. In terms of materials fertiliser prices fell by 14.1 per cent in April when compared with the previous month.

Overall in April, the price of agricultural produce fell by 2.2 per cent when compared with March 2023, while the price of farming materials was down by 3.3 per cent over the same period.

On an annual basis, output prices in April were up just 0.4 per cent in the 12 months from April 2022, while input prices fell by 0.6 per cent.

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This is a significant drop-off from soaring annual index prices reported by the CSO for March, when the agricultural output price index had increased by 8.1 per cent in the previous 12 months, and the agricultural input index had risen by 7.7 per cent.

While a monthly comparison shows declines in price indices, comparing this April to the same month last year still shows significant annual price increases.

Over the past 12 months cereal prices are up 47.5 per cent, pig prices have increased by 34.9 per cent, egg prices have risen by 23.5 per cent and calf prices are up 16.5 per cent.

Apart from fertiliser, which has seen a 28.1 per cent decrease in price over the last 12 months, input prices are also largely up over the past year, notably the price of feed, which is up 14.4 per cent; seeds, which are up 7.1 per cent; and veterinary expenses, which have increased by 6.1 per cent.

The trade-of-terms index, which is the output price index expressed as a percentage of the input price index, rose by 1.2 per cent in April when compared with the previous month, and increased by 1.1 per cent when compared with April 2022.

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