Agricultural Price Indices March 2024

Overview

This publication introduces the new series of agricultural output and input price indices with the base year 2020 as 100. The rebasing of both series is in line with EU recommendations to update the base reference periods at regular five-year intervals. This new series replaces the existing series to base year 2015 as 100.

Agricultural Price Indices comprise of:

• The index of producer prices of agricultural products - the Output Price Index.
• The index of purchase prices of the means of agricultural production - the Input Price Index.

Both indices are compiled on the basis of the average farm concept. This includes both sales to other economic sectors as well as sales/purchases of agricultural output between agricultural units for intermediate consumption purposes, excluding trade in animals between agricultural units.

In order to compile output and input price indices, lower-level indices are weighted together to create higher level indices. This weighting scheme is calculated using a 3-year average from 2019-2021 to counteract any abnormalities which might have occurred in agricultural production in a given year.

Agricultural Output Weighting Scheme

In terms of the output weighting scheme, there were only small changes in every category. Cattle and milk still dominate the output weighting scheme with a combined weight of 73.11%. One change was the addition of Industrial and Forage Plants into the index.

Agricultural Input Weighting Scheme

"Animal Feeding Stuffs" now contributes to 38.95% of the weighting scheme compared to 36.37% in 2015.

Legal Basis

The Agricultural Price Indices are compiled on the basis of a voluntary agreement between ¹Eurostat and Member States. The agricultural price indices are required for the compilation of the Economic Accounts for Agriculture which are compiled in compliance with Council Regulation (EC) No 138/2004.

¹Eurostat is the Statistical Office of the European Union.