Producer prices for food products decreased by 2.9% in the 12 months to February 2026, new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show.

Meat and meat products were down 0.7%, while dairy products were up 2.2%.

Some of the most notable changes in producer prices for food products over the 12 months to February 2026 were: fish and fish products (up 6.1%) and other food products (down 6.2%).

The CSO has today (Monday, March 23) published the Wholesale Price Index for February 2026.

Electricity prices

Deirdre Toher, statistician in the CSO's prices division, said: “Wholesale price inflation showed a decrease in February 2026 with a 1.1% decline in the overall producer price index for manufacturing industries in the month.

"The price index for export sales was down by 1.4% since January 2026, while the index for home sales was up by 1.4% in the month.

"In the 12 months to February 2026, export producer prices fell by 6.3%, while overall producer prices were down by 5.5%."

Toher said that wholesale electricity prices dropped by 14.9% in February 2026 when compared with January 2026 and were 23.3% lower than February 2025.

"They have fallen by 72.1% when compared with the peak that occurred in August 2022," she said. 

"It should be noted that as these results are for February, they do not capture the impact of the recent events in the Middle East."

The CSO's figures show that the all materials index for construction products increased by 0.5% in February 2026 and rose by 1.8% in the 12 months since February 2025.

"The building and construction index (i.e. materials and wages) was up by 0.3% in the month and was 2.6% higher than the same month last year," Toher added.