Milk prices dropped by 30.4% in the year up to December 2025, according to new data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

The agricultural output price index for December 2025 was 4.9% lower than in December 2024.

Sam Scriven, senior statistician in the CSO Agriculture Division, said that prices for cattle rose by 31.4% and poultry by 5.5% when compared to December 2024.

However, there were falls in the prices for milk (-30.4%), pigs (-13.7%), cereals (-7.5%), and sheep (-7.4%).

CSO

Output prices in December 2025 decreased by 3.9% compared with November 2025.

This monthly drop was driven by falls in the prices for milk (-6.8%) and cattle (-3.2%).

"The annual output price index for the year 2025 was 14.2% higher than for 2024, driven by a rise in the price for cattle (40.6%).

"Other increases were seen in sheep (5.1%), milk (3.3%) and poultry (3.1%), while pigs (-4.9%) and crop output (-4.4%) fell in price," Scriven said.

The annual output price index shows that calf prices rose by almost 84%.

Annual price indices, which are a measure of the price throughout the year, are calculated using the weighted average of monthly price indices during the year.

Inputs

The agricultural input price index for December 2025 rose by 2.7% on the same month in the previous year.

Prices for fertilisers increased by 13.8% when compared with December 2024.

Veterinary expenses were up 5% and energy rose by 2% in the period, while the cost of feeding stuffs dropped by almost 1% and seeds were down by 2%.

The CSO data showed that input prices remained relatively unchanged when compared with the previous month (-0.1%).

"The annual input price index for 2025 was marginally higher than for 2024, up by 0.6%.

"Fertilisers prices were up 8.6%, while feeding stuffs (-2.3%) and energy (-0.9%) were among the items which fell in price,” Scriven said.