Russia: the supply of local potatoes has decreased, prices have risen

According to the daily monitoring data of the APK-Inform: Vegetables and Fruits project, today the Russian market shows a trend towards an increase in potato prices, which is primarily due to a reduction in supply from local farms. Producers of the southern regions of the Russian Federation mainly specialize in the cultivation of early potatoes, which today are almost over. Farmers in the Central Federal District have just started harvesting potatoes, but the supply of this product on the market is still quite limited.

Today, potatoes go on sale at 16-24 rubles/kg ($0.22-0.33/kg), which is on average 14% more expensive than at the end of the last working week.

The main factor in the growth in prices for potatoes, according to producers, is a decrease in the yield of this crop, which is caused by adverse weather conditions. Thus, heavy rains and a further rather long drought had a negative impact on the potato harvest this year. Basically, the losses are associated with insufficient moisture during the period of active growth of tubers, which led to their small size, as well as the active development of diseases during the hot period.

it is worth noting that at the moment potatoes in the Russian Federation are already on sale at an average of 1.6 times more expensive than at the beginning of August last year. At the same time, key market players do not rule out a repeat of last year's scenario, when potato prices soared to record highs in the second half of the season.