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