August crop prices were 12.4pc higher than twelve months earlier, and livestock and animal products prices were up 12.1pc, with crop prices rising less and animal product prices rising slightly more than the respective increases registered in July. The slower rise of crop prices was helped by a 42.7pc yr/yr drop in potato prices and a 14.0pc decline in vegetable prices, both following sharp yr/yr increases in July 2010. Farm gate prices fell year-on-year until June 2010 before starting to rise at a double-digit pace in July 2010. In a breakdown by crop type, farm gate prices of cereals, including seeds, were 21.6pc higher in August than a year earlier. The increase was moderate compared to rises in the previous months, when prices more than doubled in February and March and price rises ranged between 76.8pc and 87.6pc in April-June. Prices of industrial crops were up 18.9pc, including a 30.5pc rise in oil seed prices, both increase slowing down from the previous month, while potato prices fell 42.7pc after dropping 30.9pc in July. Up to May, potato prices were well over their level one year earlier. Fruit prices rose 18.3pc, picking up from a 16.2pc increase in July. Prices of fresh vegetables were down 14.0pc yr/yr in August after falling 25.5pc in July, dropping for the fourth month in a row. Among livestock and animal product prices, prices of live animals rose more than in the previous month. The price of cattle for slaughter rose 37.3pc in the twelve months to August, the price of live hogs increased 2.4pc, and poultry prices were up 18.7pc. Milk prices climbed 18.3pc, the price increase picking up slightly from July. Fresh egg prices dropped 3.9pc yr/yr, falling less than the 4.9pc registered in July. January-August farm gate prices were up 30.9pc yr/yr, as crop prices rose 40.6pc and livestock and animal products prices rose 14.4pc in the period.