The average price of agricultural output in the European Union fell 5.8% in the second quarter of 2026 compared with a year earlier, the third quarterly decline in a row, according to Eurostat. Over the same period the average price of inputs not related to investment, energy, fertiliser, feed and other goods and services, rose 4.7%, after holding broadly steady through 2025 and the first quarter of 2026.
Output prices fell year on year in 20 member states. The steepest drops were in Denmark (−17.2%), Ireland (−16.2%), Latvia and Estonia (both −14.5%) and Luxembourg and Lithuania (both −14.2%); prices rose most in Croatia and Malta (+3.9% each) and Cyprus (+3.5%).
Input prices rose in every member state, fastest in Lithuania (+16.4%), Romania (+11.7%) and Latvia (+9.7%) and slowest in Hungary and Portugal (+1.2% each) and Malta (+1.5%).
Among the main products, milk led the fall at −16.6% between the second quarters of 2025 and 2026 and cereals were down 5.6%. Among inputs, energy and lubricants were up 22.0% and fertilisers and soil improvers 13.4%.
The combination, cheaper output and dearer inputs for three quarters, is the squeeze that European farm unions have been describing since the spring, with dairy farmers in northern Europe feeling it hardest.
Source: The Cattle Site
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