The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has said that fertiliser prices in September had increased by almost 122% in a year.

Data published today (Thursday, November 10) by the CSO shows that the agricultural input price index was up by 36.9% in the 12 months to September, while the output price index increased by 29.2%.

This resulted in the annual terms of trade falling by 5.6% when compared with September 2021.

During the 12-month period, the CSO output data shows that the price of milk increased by 48.8%, cereal prices have jumped by 47.4%, and pig prices rose by 34%.

Cattle prices increased by 13.2%, poultry was up 7.4% and sheep prices rose by 2%.

The price of potatoes, including seeds, rose by 21.5%, eggs were up by a fifth but wool prices fell by 0.5%.

According to the CSO agricultural input figures, there was a 121.9% increase in fertiliser prices, energy prices rose by 40.1% and feed prices were up by 33.4% in the past year.

Fuel prices climbed by 43.3% and the cost of materials and buildings rose by 4.4%.

Commenting on the data, Dr. Grzegorz Glaczynski, statistician in the agriculture section of the CSO, said:

"The overall input price index increased marginally since August 2022 (+0.4%), while the underlying input sub-indices saw a small growth in energy (+0.8%) and fertiliser prices (+1.5%).

"The agricultural output price index was up by 1.4% from August 2022 to September 2022. The output sub-indices show a monthly increase in pig prices (+2.4%).

"A marginal rise in milk prices (+0.3%), while a decrease was observed in cattle prices (-1.9%)," Dr. Glaczynski said.