As a result of the recent heavy rains, the Russian tuber producers face difficulties in harvesting the new crop, which led to a significant decrease in their supply on the market and, accordingly, a rapid rise in prices.
According to the analysts of EastFruit, in the Russian potato market, the upward trend in prices continues, and recently they have already reached a record level over the past few years.
For the time being, the Russian farmers are selling potatoes at USD0.39-0.50/kg, which is on average 30% more expensive than last week. Despite the rise in potato prices, the demand in Russia remains high. Wholesale companies continue to actively purchase potatoes for storage.
Furthermore, there are imported potatoes from Belarus and Kazakhstan on the Russian market. But, according to market participants, the volume of imported potatoes is not enough to meet the current demand. At the same time, prices for imported products are also growing amid increased demand and shortage of local potatoes. Today imported potatoes are sold no cheaper than USD0.32-0.34/kg, based on EastFruit experts report.
For now, prices for potatoes in the Russian Federation are already 2.3 times higher than at the end of September 2020. At the same time, most of the key market players assume there might be a further rise in prices, since the potato yield has noticeably decreased in the current season, and many producers are currently holding sales, hoping that potato prices will rise even more.
