Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 11 March 2010
199 Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the degree to which he has compared farm input costs here to those in other EU member states with particular reference to fuel oil, fertilisers, sprays or electricity; the extent to which divergence has occurred in each of the past three years to date in 2010; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12185/10]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe most recent information regarding comparative data for prevailing farm input costs prices across the European Union is contained in an EU Commission report published last year entitled "Agriculture in the European Union — Statistical and economic information 2008". This provides details of farm input costs for a range of inputs in various Member States over the 3-year period from 2005-2007 inclusive. The information on input prices is at Section 3.3.5.1 of the report, which may be accessed at the following:
website: http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/agrista/2008/table_en/index.htm.
Price indices for input costs provide indicative trends across a range of input costs. The CSO tracks input costs in Ireland on an ongoing basis and these are reported through CSO via various publications and on their website (www.cso.ie) as well as Departmental Publications such as the Annual Review and Outlook (see "Publications" section of website: www.agriculture.gov.ie ). Input prices also receive detailed examination each year at the Teagasc outlook conference. Irish input price indices based on CSO data for the years 2007-2009 are outlined in the following table.
|
Index/Year |
2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
|
Total Index |
111 |
132 |
121 |
|
All Fertilisers |
110 |
177 |
149 |
|
Motor Fuels |
112 |
132 |
109 |
|
Electricity |
116 |
118 |
123 |
|
Plant Protection Products |
99 |
100 |
102 |
Source: CSO Data (rebased to 2005=100).
