The agricultural output price index increased by 2.5% in April 2021 compared with March 2021, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

The agricultural input price index increased by 1.2% over the same period.

Compared with the same time last year, the agricultural input price index increased by 5.6%.

The agricultural output price index increased by 13.6% in April 2021 compared with April 2020.

These statistics show that, on average, farmgate prices have outpaced the rise in farmers' costs of production.

Index breakdown

A further comparison of the April 2021 output sub-indices with the April 2020 sub-indices show that sheep and milk increased by 30.6% and 19.4% respectively, according to the CSO.

The April 2021 sub-indices show that energy and fertilisers were up 11.5% and 8.6% respectively on April 2020 prices.