(MENAFN - Emirates News Agency (WAM)) Statistics Centre - Abu Dhabi (SCAD), in its new agricultural producer price index (APPI) report for the first half of 2012 (focusing on vegetables crop prices), said the APPI for vegetable crops advanced by 2.9 percent from 101.1 to 103.1 points during the first half of 2012 compared with the same period of 2011.
The rise reflects the net outcome of yearly upward and downward changes in the prices of vegetables supplied to the emirate's marketing centers during the first six months of 2012.
The Center emphasized the importance of the agricultural producer price index in planning and research, stressing the role of SCAD's Agriculture and Water Statistics Sections in the collection and dissemination of data on the quantities and values of the produce supplied to the agricultural marketing centers, while ensuring conformity with international methodologies in this field.
The largest contributors to the increases in the APPI (i.e. individual increases in the sub-indices for each crop) recorded during the aforesaid comparison period were: mallow (up 15.7 percent), eggplant (up 14.9 percent), pepper (up 9.1percent), watermelons (up 8.4 percent), squash (up 7.1 percent), cabbage (up 5.1 percent), sugar beet (up 5.0 percent) and tomatoes (up 4.4 percent), with an overall relative importance of 58.3 percent.
On the other hand the APPI sub-indices declined for a number of crops, including onions (down 5.7 percent), corn (down 4.9 percent), carrots (down 4.7 percent), cauliflower (down 4.4 percent), beans (down 3.7 percent), coriander (down 3.2 percent) and salad rocket (down 1.7 percent), with the price falls having a combined relative importance of 41.7 percent.
SCAD also reported a rise of 2.2 points in the general APPI for vegetable crops over the first half of 2012 compared with the second half of 2011, as the index reached 103.1 points in the first half of 2012, up from 100.9 points during the second half of 2011.
The most significant increases in the APPI sub-indices were recorded for pepper (up 6.4 percent), onions (up 3.9 percent), lettuce (up 2.8 percent), beans (up 2.5 percent) and tomatoes (up 2.2 percent), with an overall relative importance of 67.3 percent.
By contrast, the sub-index retreated for some crops, including carrots (down 13.9 percent), cauliflower (down 10.7 percent), corn (down 9.2 percent), watermelons (down 8.8 percent), potatoes (down 6.7 percent) and peas (down 5.6 percent). The overall relative importance of the price falls was 32.7 percent.
The study of agricultural prices is important in providing relevant data for informed decision making by investors in the agricultural sector as prices represent important indicators affecting the economic and social life of farmers and directly reflecting on their incomes and standards of living. Agricultural prices data also provide the authorities concerned with appropriate indicators that enable them maintain equilibrium between production costs and selling prices offered to the consumer, in order to protect the interests of both producers and consumers. This set of data is also useful to farmers in the planning and development of their production, to help them maximize their returns and avoid potential losses.
