Agricultural prices in the European Union for both outputs and inputs not related to investment declined in the first quarter (Q1) of 2024, according to the EU’s statistics office, Eurostat.
The data shows that the average price of agricultural outputs fell by 6% in the first quarter of 2024, when compared with the same period in the previous year.
While the average cost of agricultural inputs, not related to investment, decreased by 11% in the same timeframe.
Agricultural prices
Eurostat noted that there were “sharp increases in agricultural prices during 2021 and the first three quarters of 2022”.
Following this, the agency said that the pace of growth slowed and prices began to decline.
“The recent decreases in agricultural output and input costs are in the direction of calmer pre-disruption levels,” it said.
The data shows that the price changes for outputs in the first three months of this year were “varied and contrasting”.
Average cereal prices were down by 28% when compared with Q1 2023, milk price dropped 12% and eggs and crops, such as oilseeds, protein crops and sugar beet, fell by 10%.
Although the price of fresh vegetables was down by 6% in the year up to Q1 2024, the average price of potatoes increased by 22%, and fresh fruit prices were up by 20%.
Eurostat said that these increases were due in part to the impact of unfavourable weather conditions on harvested quantities.
When the cost of inputs was examined compared to a year earlier, the sharpest price drops were for fertilisers and soil improvers (-31%), animal feed (-16%) and energy and lubricants (-12%).
Eurostat
Of the 21 EU countries with available data, the majority recorded a fall in agricultural output prices in Q1 2024, compared with the same quarter of 2023.
The sharpest price declines were in Hungary (-24%), Bulgaria and Romania (-18%), and Slovakia and Czechia (-17%).
The data shows that agricultural output prices in Ireland dropped by around 6% on Q1 2023 levels.
Output prices increased in five southern EU countries, the largest increase was in Greece (20%), with more modest increases recorded in Malta and Spain (4%), and Portugal and Cyprus (1%).
24 out of 25 EU countries with available data for farm inputs recorded decreases in the first three months of 2024.
The sharpest rates of decline were in Croatia (-20%), Hungary (-19%), and the Netherlands and Ireland (both down 17%).
Eurostat said that Portugal was the only EU country to record an increase (2%) in agricultural input prices in the period.