Rise in producer price index for agriculture

In September, the producer price index for agriculture stood at 97.01 points, an increase of 0.20 percentage points when compared to the same month last year, the National Statistics Office said yesterday.

The marginal rise was the result of an increase in the average price of potatoes from 11c1 in September 2002 to 16c1 in September 2003.

Although the unit price obtained by herdsmen increased marginally, there was a drop in the unit price of eggs. This resulted in a marginal increase in the index of animal products by 0.59 percentage points to 101.96 points.

The animals index continued to decline when compared to the same period last year. The index stood at 90 points, 7.61 percentage points lower than in September 2002. The decline was mainly due to decreases in the prices obtained for poultry, pigs and cows meat.

There were also declines in the indices of fresh vegetables and fresh fruit. The fresh vegetables index dropped by 2.78 percentage points to 85.39 points in September as a result of drops in the average prices of the main vegetable products, with the exception of tomatoes.

While the average price of tomatoes used for processing remained stable, the average price of tomatoes passing through organised markets increased considerably from 15c4 in September 2002 to 28c6 in September 2003.

The fresh fruit index also registered a marginal decline by 3.66 percentage points to 131.32 points. While the average price of lemons increased by 33.60 percentage points, the average price of peaches and grapes fell by 25.34 percentage points and 1.45 percentage points respectively.