The economy may be in a state of flux these days given US president Donald Trump’s move on tariffs and tensions elsewhere in the world, but the agriculture sector appears to remain as strong as ever.
Latest data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows the value of Irish agricultural output rose by 8 per cent to €12.2 billion last year on the back of 17 per cent rise in milk prices.
The figures show milk contributed an additional €575 million (16 per cent) to the value of output, bringing its value to €4.1 billion.
Cattle prices grew by 5 per cent but the CSO said this was “tempered by lower volumes” resulting in their value rising only marginally to €3.1 billion.
“With milk accounting for one-third of the value of agricultural output at basic prices and cattle a further 25 per cent, changes in the price of these two outputs have a significant impact on agricultural incomes,” the CSO said.
The preliminary estimates show the agricultural sector’s operating surplus for last year increased by 46 per cent (€1.3 billion) to €4.3 billion with milk prices the main driver.
The value of crops was up by 5 per cent to €2.6 billion, but this is expected to rise further when updated data on all crops becomes available ahead of the publication of final estimates in June.
A 29 per cent fall in input prices was driven by falling fertiliser prices.
On the face of it, it’s all pretty good news. There are clouds on the horizon, though.
Trump’s planned tariffs on goods coming from the EU are due to kick in next month, and agriculture products are very much in the spotlight. One need only think of Ornua’s Kerrygold to get an idea of the possible ramifications for the industry.
But given Trump’s record of imposing levies and then pulling back with Canada and Mexico, it’s not out of the question that he will do something similar with the EU. And who knows, maybe Taoiseach Micheál Martin will come out of his Oval Office meeting with the US president with some sort of agreement. You never know.
