Dairy Producer Prices Surge by 11% Amidst Mixed Economic Indicators

According to the latest data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), producer prices for dairy products increased by 11% in the 12 months leading to December 2025. This increase is part of an overall rise in food product prices, which saw an average increase of 1.7% over the same period, as reported in the CSO's Wholesale Price Index for December 2025, published on January 22.

The report highlights other significant changes, such as a 5.1% rise in prices for fish and fish products, and a notable decline of 16.2% in the prices of vegetables and animal oils and fats. Despite these increases in food product prices, the index for beverages saw a decline of 3.3%.

In a related development, wholesale electricity prices experienced a substantial decrease of 11.7% in December 2025 alone, contributing to an overall drop of 20.9% compared to December 2024. This is indicative of broader trends within the manufacturing sector, where domestic producer prices for manufactured goods rose by 0.8% compared to the previous year.

CSO statistician Deirdre Toher commented that the overall Producer Price Index for manufacturing industries decreased by 0.6% in December 2025. This decline was attributed to a reduction in export producer prices by 7.2%, despite a 0.8% increase in domestic market sales prices.

Overall, the manufacturing sector saw a decline in producer prices by 6.4% over the year, with the annual average of the Producer Price Index for 2025 being 2.9% lower than that of 2024. The CSO's figures underscore the complexity of economic factors influencing producer prices across different sectors.