Yesterday (Thursday, March 21) The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) published the agriculture price indices (API) from January 2023 – January 2024.
The price index for agricultural outputs decreased by 5.6% in the 12 months to January 2024.
According to the API, there were eight upward contributions to the 12-month inflation rate for agricultural outputs recorded for January 2024.
The largest upward contribution was potatoes (+1.9 percentage points), followed by sheep and lambs (+0.9 percentage points), and cattle and calves (+0.8 percentage points).
There were six downward contributions, of which the largest downward contribution was milk (-5.9 percentage points), followed by wheat (-2.6 percentage points), and oilseed rape (-0.7 percentage points).
The price index for agricultural outputs increased by 0.6% in the month to January 2024. In comparison, the index increased by 0.6% in the month to December 2023.
From January 2023 to January 2024, the price index for agricultural inputs decreased by 11.3%.
There were six upward contributions, the largest being from maintenance of materials (+0.4 percentage points), followed by plant protection products (+0.2 percentage points), and buildings (+0.1 percentage points).
The largest downward contribution was fertilisers and soil improvers (-5.8 percentage points), followed by compound feedingstuffs (-3.8 percentage points), and energy and lubricants (-1.6 percentage points).
The price index for agricultural inputs increased by 0.9% in the month to January 2024. In comparison, the index decreased by 0.4% in the month to December 2023.
In 2024 so far, the annual average price index decreased by 0.5% for agricultural outputs and decreased by 3.5% for agricultural inputs.
The year with the largest difference between the agricultural outputs and agricultural inputs was 2022, with 2019 showing the second largest difference.
