This release presents preliminary estimates of agricultural price indices. The indices monitor trends in prices paid to farmers for their produce and in prices paid by farmers for purchases of goods and services. An EU harmonised methodology is used to compile these price indices.
The estimates are also sent to Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Union, who provide the Directorate-General for Agriculture in Brussels with forecasts of the annual EU agricultural price indices for the current year.
The preliminary annual indices are compiled by using the published monthly indices from January to September, and forecast estimates for September to December. In line with EU recommendations, the annual input sub-indices are calculated as simple arithmetic averages of the monthly indices. The annual output sub-indices are calculated as the weighted averages of the monthly indices. The weights used to combine the changes in prices of the individual commodities are based on the annual value of sales off farms and the expenditure by farmers on input purchases for the base year for the output and input indices respectively. The Laspeyres index formula, involving the use of fixed base year weights, has been used in the compilation of the overall index numbers.
The agricultural terms of trade index is the output price index expressed as a percentage of the input price index.
The indices are compiled from a wide variety of sources, including direct CSO surveys and administrative data from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
Agricultural Price Indices monthly CSO release.
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