First data on the year just ended. The community statistics office, Eurostat, estimated this Friday that the average price of agricultural goods throughout the European Union (EU) has risen 2% in 2023 compared to the previous year. Regarding the average price of goods and services consumed in agriculture (known as ‘inputs’), they have fallen by 5% last year compared to 2022. This is the main conclusion of the first estimates on price indices . agricultural by 2023. For the organization, they “indicate a change with respect to the strong price increases that characterized 2021 and 2022.”
However, the greatest moderation in food prices is by neighborhood. Eurostat has detected “significant” price increases in olive oil (54% more), potatoes, including seed potatoes (23%), pigs (22%) and eggs (20%), while production a “substantial” drop (26% less) in cereals (a denomination in which Eurostat includes wheat, barley, corn, rye and oats, as well as other types of cereals). Regarding non-investment inputs, the average price of fertilizers and soil amendments fell by 23%, while that of energy lubricants fell by 12%
.The average price of plant protection products and pesticides has increased by 9%, as have seeds and plant material over the past year. The community statistics office has highlighted that a widespread drought in 2023 impacted production levels of a number of crops, including potatoes. In Spain, 7.47% did so. As a result, potato prices rose in twenty-four Member States of the European Union. The sharpest increases occurred in Germany (49%), Slovakia (48%) and Croatia (44%), while decreases were noted in Belgium (down 18%), Cyprus (14%) and Austria (4 %).
Meanwhile, fertilizer prices in 2023 were lower than in 2022 in 22 Member States, out of the 26 for which data was available. Prices fell the most in Luxembourg (down 46%), Sweden (41%) and Finland (39%), but rose in Cyprus (14%), Malta (9%), Greece (6%) and Romania (3%). . In Spain a drop of 18.93% was recorded.
