Producer prices for agricultural output went up 4.8% in the third quarter

by Gozo News · November 27, 2013

During the third quarter, producer prices for agricultural output went up by 4.8 per cent while input prices decreased by 1.9 per cent, the National Statistics Office said today.

The producer price index for agricultural products increased by 4.8 per cent, from 101.68 points in the third quarter of 2012 to 106.53 points in the corresponding quarter this year.

A slight increase of 0.7 per cent was registered in the fresh vegetables price index, resulting from a general drop in supply. As a result, higher producer prices were recorded for watermelons (+79.4 per cent), sugar melons (+24.2 per cent), vegetable marrows (+23.9 per cent) and cauliflowers (+52.1 per cent).

Mitigating the effects of these increases was a decrease in the prices of tomatoes, lettuce and onions by 5.9, 6.1 and 49.7 per cent respectively. Similarly, the price of potatoes rose by 19.5 per cent over the comparative quarter as a result of a decline in the supply of this crop.

During the period under review, the fruit price index went up by 8.8 per cent. This was mainly due to an increase in prices fetched for peaches (+30.1 per cent).

The animal slaughtering index went up by 5.5 per cent as higher prices were registered for pigs (+17.9 per cent), cows (+8.1 per cent) and poultry (+2.2 per cent), although prices for slaughtered bulls and rabbits declined by 10.3 and 1.6 per cent respectively.

Similarly, the animal products index increased by 2.9 per cent on account of higher producer prices fetched for milk (+6.5 per cent). Egg prices declined by 5.8 per cent.

In the third quarter this year, the input price index for agriculture decreased by 1.9 per cent to 115.69 points. The good and services index, which shows running costs movements, decreased by 2.5 per cent over the comparative period last year, mainly due to lower prices of animal feeding stuffs (-4.9 per cent). In contrast, an increase of 1.0 per cent was registered in the price of motor fuels.

The machinery and investment index went up by 0.9 per cent on account of higher prices paid for materials (+2.4 per cent) and buildings (+0.1 per cent), over the corresponding period last year.