Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: The Agriculture Producer Price Index (APPI) rose 2.04% year-on-year to 187.43 in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2025/26, according to preliminary data released by the National Statistics Office (NSO).
The index stood at 183.69 in the same quarter a year earlier.
The latest increase was the lowest fourth-quarter growth recorded in the past eight years, according to the NSO.
The index measures changes in the prices farmers receive for their agricultural products. For farmers, a rise in the APPI generally means they are receiving higher prices for their produce. However, higher producer prices do not automatically mean higher profits as farmers may still face rising costs for seeds, fertilizer, labour, transport and other inputs.
However, higher producer prices can eventually translate into higher retail prices for consumers. The relatively low overall growth suggests that agricultural price pressures remained contained during the review quarter.
The NSO said the increase in producer prices was driven mainly by higher prices of vegetables, fruits and some livestock products. However, the overall rise remained modest, indicating that farmers recorded relatively limited price increases in the review quarter compared with previous years.
The vegetable group recorded the highest growth among the major agricultural categories with a 7.06% year-on-year growth. Fruit prices rose 8.16%, while the cereal group recorded a more moderate increase of 2.46%. Rice and maize prices increased 2.82% and 0.62%, respectively.
The prices of livestock products also increased in the fourth quarter of 2025/26. Milk prices rose 1.43%, eggs 2.14%, meat 1.34% and fish 2.11%, the NSO’s quarterly report shows.
The price of green tea leaves, however, fell 7.11%. However, since the product has a very small weight in the index, its decline had only a limited effect on the overall APPI, according to the NSO.
