Czech agricultural prices rise significantly year-on-year – industrial prices slightly decline

In August, the prices of Czech producers developed differently: while agricultural prices rose sharply, industrial prices fell slightly again.

The prices of Czech producers show varied trends in August: agricultural producer prices increased significantly year-on-year, while industrial prices declined again. This is according to figures released earlier this week by the Czech Statistical Office (ČSÚ).

“Agricultural producer prices recorded another significant increase of over 11 %. Construction services rose by 2.6 % year-on-year, and prices for business services by 4.4 %. Industrial prices remained stable compared with the previous month and fell slightly year-on-year,” explained Vladimír Klimeš, Head of the Department of Industrial Prices and Foreign Trade at the ČSÚ.

In August, the prices of potatoes (-15.6 %), fruit (-7.4 %) and cereals (-5.1 %) fell in particular, while beef (+4.1 %), poultry (+3.0 %) and milk (+0.4 %) became more expensive. Year-on-year, agricultural prices rose by 11.4 %, driven by strong increases in fruit (+14.2 %), oilseeds (+10 %) and animal products such as eggs (+44.9 %) and beef (+40.1 %). Pig prices, by contrast, fell by 5.7 %.

Producer prices in the Czech industrial sector remained stable compared with the previous month. Slight increases were seen in energy (+1.4 %) and non-metallic mineral products (+0.4 %), while coke, refinery products and basic metals became slightly cheaper. Year-on-year, industrial prices declined by 0.8 %.

Construction service prices rose slightly by 0.3 % month-on-month, while building materials fell minimally (-0.1 %). Year-on-year, construction services were 2.6 % higher than the previous year, with materials 1.1 % more expensive.

Industrial producer prices in the EU

According to preliminary Eurostat data, producer prices in the EU industrial sector rose by 0.6 % month-on-month in July. The largest increases were recorded in Romania (+6.7 %), Bulgaria (+5.7 %) and Slovakia (+2.8 %). In Austria (+0.5 %) and the Czech Republic (+0.1 %), the increase was moderate, while in Poland it remained stable and in Germany slightly negative (-0.1 %). Year-on-year, prices in the EU rose by 0.4 %, with the largest gains in Bulgaria (+10.7 %) and Denmark (+4.5 %), while in the Czech Republic they fell by 1.2 %.