Price of fertiliser doubles for farmers with knock on anticipated in food prices

The price of fertiliser, often seen as an indicator of food prices, has more than doubled on an annual basis in January 2022, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

Fertiliser prices rose by 127.2 per cent since January 2021, showing a significant knock on result in the cost of food. These increases were seen across crop and animal outputs.

The CSO data presents estimates of agricultural output and input price indices. The indices monitor trends in prices paid to farmers for their produce and in prices paid by farmers for purchases of goods and services.

The figures show sub-indices for milk prices increased by 29.7 per cent and cereals increased by 34 per cent respectively in January 2022 compared with January 2021. Output prices on potatoes increased by 22.8 per cent, while eggs and wool also increased in price.

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The output price of sheep rose by 11.7 per cent and the price of cattle increased by 10.5 per cent. However, the output price of pigs fell by 8.1 per cent.

On an annual basis, the agricultural input price index increased by 26.4 per cent in January 2022 compared with January 2021, and the agricultural output price index increased by 16.9 per cent.

Energy

As well as fertilisers, input costs for farmers also increased across energy, seeds and feed. Sub-indices show that motor fuel was up by 36.8 per cent, while electricity rose by 22.4 per cent respectively.

Anthony Dawson, Statistician, said: "Today's release details price indices for January 2022. The most significant change is in the price of fertilisers where the price index is up 127.2 per cent on prices in January 2021.

“More generally, the monthly input price index is up 5.5 per cent on December 2021 prices while the monthly output price index is down 0.1 per cent in the same period. This means the resulting agricultural terms of trade index has decreased by 5.3 per cent since December.”