Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 133: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the estimate of the increase in food prices over each of the past five years; if she has quantified the reason for these increases; and if her attention has been drawn to the concerns of significant further increases in food prices over the coming months. [21798/07]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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According to data from the CSO, food prices increased by an average of just over 1% per annum in the 5 years since 2002. Over that period the increase in food prices was considerably lower than the overall rate of inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index, which averaged 3.4% per annum over the same time frame.

Last year, food price inflation averaged 1.4% compared with a rate of 4% for overall inflation. While food price inflation has increased to 1.8% for the first eight months of the year, it remains substantially below the overall rate of inflation of 5% for the same period.

Rising input costs, at both producer and processor levels have fed through to put upward pressure on food prices. Pressure on input prices, in particular energy and raw material, is likely to continue for the foreseeable future, with strong competition on world dairy and cereal markets pushing up producer prices.