In December 2020, the overall agricultural and horticultural price index increased by 3.2 % compared to November. However, the annual index for 2020 has decreased by 3.4 % compared to 2019.
The overall index consists in an agricultural index (plants and animals) and an horticultural index. For the agricultural industry, the plant index decreased by 16.9 % compared to the previous year. The potato industry pulls this index down. The weak demand for ware potatoes led to a fall in prices of around 39.2 %. Cereals help to offset, in part, the decrease in this plant index. Cereal prices rose in the second half of the year.
For the price index for animals and animal products, a drop of 5.9 % is recorded between 2019 and 2020. With the exception of bovine animals, prices are down, particularly for pigs (-12.9 %) and poultry (-8.1 %).
On the horticultural side, the year was highly contrasted. For the producer price index for vegetables, two peaks were observed. The first between February and March (+66.9 %), mainly concerning vegetables in open field, and the second between August and September (+63.3 %). However, despite these jolts, the annual evolution of the vegetable index is negative: -2.3 % compared to 2019. Finally, the fruit index rose by 43.3 % in 2020 following the rise in the price of strawberries (+33.5 %) and apples (+60.6 %). This increase in the price of apples follows better prices for the 2020 harvest.