Price changes for agricultural products were moderate in 2023

The annual average prices increased in 2023 for all agricultural products except for cereals. However, the price increases were clearly more moderate compared with the previous year.

Moderate price increase for livestock products

The price development during the last ten years for livestock products, milk and meat, was quite steady until the year before last. The prices remained nearly unchanged until 2022 – the annual price changes were very small in percentage terms, close to zero. 

“However, the situation changed significantly in 2022. During the year, the prices of livestock products increased by more than 20 per cent. The prices continued to rise in 2023, although clearly more moderately, at a level of around ten per cent,” says Anu Koivisto, Senior Statistician at the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke).

The annual average prices of agricultural crop products, cereals and potatoes, have fluctuated clearly more strongly in the last ten years than those of livestock products. The range of variation has been from −40 per cent to nearly +60 per cent, which can be considered very large changes. 

Prices increased except for cereals

The annual average prices increased from 2022 to 2023 for all other agricultural products except for cereals. The average price increase was around ten per cent for livestock products and potatoes. 

“The price development was different for cereals. Their prices decreased last year by more than 20 per cent. This happened after a huge price increase that took place in the previous year, though, which explains why the price level for cereals in 2023 remained higher than in 2021,” Koivisto says.

Background to the statistics

The producer price information of milk, meat, eggs, cereals, and ware potatoes is based on monthly surveys sent by Luke to dairies, slaughterhouses, egg packing plants, cereal buyers, and potato packing plants.