Inputs Price Monitor: Two days left to declare your costs

Farmers have just two days left to contribute to the February Inputs Price Monitor – the on-line tool designed to track how much people are paying for key inputs at farm level.

Since its launch at last years Cereals event, the IPM has grown into a crucial resource, enabling farmers to benchmark their own businesses and highlighting trends as they emerge.

In January, for example, we saw prices for red diesel average around 2p/litre higher than December with the vast majority of respondents to the survey fixing at between 47-49p/litre.

Prices for kerosene showed the same trend, with the monthly average ending 3plitre higher than December and most respondents buying between 38-40p/litre, but with a large proportion purchasing kerosene at anything up to 49p/litre.

The average reported prices for white diesel in January dipped by 2p/litre on the December average, finishing on 99p/litre.

However, the breakdown of prices showed that purchases actually clustered around the 95p/litre and the 112p/litre marks, which could reflect the fluctuations in the price throughout the month, but may also relate to the difference between bulk deliveries and forecourt purchases.

Finally, reports for dairy concentrates in January showed that, although the majority of prices reported centred between £175-184/t, there were a sizable proportion of purchases below these figures, ranging down to £155/t.

The IPM is strictly anonymous and only takes 10 minutes to complete, so please take the time to make your contribution by clicking on this link