Irish farmers were able to command substantially higher milk prices last year, according to new Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures, while declines in the prices of key inputs like fertiliser continued to relieve pressure on some farm incomes.
The price of a basket of farm inputs declined by 10 per cent overall in the last calendar year, driven by steep drops in the price of key components, the statistics agency said on Tuesday.
Fertiliser prices plummeted by 24.2 per cent in the year, while energy prices fell by 5.6 per cent, largely due to a sharp 17.7 per cent drop-off in electricity prices in the 12 months to the end of December. Feed prices, meanwhile, declined by 13.7 per cent last year.
Still input prices at the end of 2024 were some 14 per cent higher than in 2021, before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered a global spike in energy and fertiliser prices.
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Overall farmers were able to command higher prices for some products in 2024 than in 2023, with the CSO’s agricultural output price index up by 7.8 per cent in the year. This was largely due to a sharp 16.3 per cent increase in milk output prices in line with similar increases in global milk prices.
Potato prices rose by 28 per cent, while sheep prices were up 17.6 per cent by the end of the year, the CSO. However, cereals prices were down by more than 20 per cent.
Poor weather during the year, which delayed the planting season in early 2024 and then forced farmers to house cows earlier than expected, led to a drop-off in agricultural output, the CSO said in December.
Still, the agency said commodity price rises, combined with the impact of falling input costs, would likely lead to an overall agricultural surplus in the Republic of €3.9 billion by the end of 2024, up one-third from 2023.
