During the first quarter this year, producer and input prices for agricultural output increased by 9.4 per cent and 1.4 per cent respectively.

Producer Price Index

In the first quarter this year, the producer price index for agricultural products stood at 130.59 points, an increase of 11.21 points (+9.4 per cent) when compared to the first quarter last year.

Producer prices for fresh vegetables advanced by 37.2 per cent, resulting from an overall decrease in the supply of fresh vegetables on the market. Higher producer prices were recorded for cauliflowers (+88.6 per cent), lettuce (+81.8 per cent) and vegetable marrows (+71.4 per cent). Producer prices for fresh vegetables were partially mitigated by a drop in prices of tomatoes, green beans and mushrooms by 8.7, 19.6 and 31.1 per cent respectively.

During the first quarter, the fruit price index went up by 18.0 per cent. This was mainly due to a decrease in citrus fruit production, mainly oranges, the price of which rose by 19.2 per cent over the comparative period in 2011.

The animal slaughtering index rose by 2.8 per cent over the first quarter last year, as higher prices were registered for cows (+19.4 per cent), bulls (+19.0 per cent) and pigs (+5.6 per cent), while the price of poultry declined by 4.1 per cent. Furthermore, the animal products index rose by 5.6 per cent on account of higher producer prices fetched for eggs (+15.3 per cent) and milk (+2.0 per cent).

Input Price Index

The input price index for agriculture increased by 1.4 per cent, from 135.59 points in the first quarter of 2011 to 137.50 points, mainly due to higher fuel prices.

The goods and services index went up by 1.0 per cent on account of higher prices paid for motor fuels (+9.4 per cent) and maintenance of buildings (+3.3 per cent). On the other hand, a drop of 1.3 per cent was registered in the prices of animal feeding stuffs.

The machinery and investment index advanced by 6.3 per cent on account of higher prices paid for materials (+6.0 per cent) and buildings (+6.6 per cent) over the corresponding period last year.

These figures come from the National Statistics Office.

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