China: Dingxi Potato Price Slips 1.92% in a Week to 1,331 Yuan per Tonne as New Crop Arrives
The Xinhua price index for Dingxi, a major potato hub in Gansu, shows farm-gate prices easing as northern harvest supplies grow. Starch from local factories is 9.80% cheaper than a year ago.
Farm-gate potato prices in Dingxi, one of China’s main potato centres in Gansu province, fell again in the week to 24 September. This is shown by the latest monitoring report of the Xinhua Index, the price service of China’s state news agency Xinhua.
According to the report, the average production-area price for commodity (ware) potatoes in Dingxi was 1,331.41 yuan per tonne. That is 1.92% lower than a week earlier. Prices are still 4.85% higher than a year ago, but the report says the year-on-year gain has narrowed.
The branded Xin Daping potato was quoted at 1,804.00 yuan per tonne. It lost 1.15% in a week and is 8.66% cheaper than a year ago. Potato starch from Dingxi factories cost 6,255.22 yuan per tonne at the factory gate, down 0.17% in a week and 9.80% year on year. Prices for other product grades were stable, the report says.
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Why prices are easing
The Xinhua Index names several reasons. Buying and selling slowed before the holidays. Mixed-cropping areas in the southwest continue to ship large volumes of fresh potatoes. In the northern single-crop regions, more new-crop potatoes are reaching the market and prices there are falling.
The report also says that seed potato sales are under pressure and seed prices are weak. Factory prices for primary potato products, such as starch, are holding steady but at a low level.
The price data fit other signals from China’s starch sector. Earlier this month POTATOES NEWS reported that potato starch stocks in China were 52.56% higher than a year earlier as the new processing season began. Large stocks leave little room for starch plants to pay more for raw potatoes.
Why it matters
Dingxi is a reference market for fresh and seed potatoes and for starch in northwest China. A weekly fall of almost 2% at harvest time is normal. But the sharp year-on-year drop for branded potatoes and starch shows that the market is well supplied. Growers who sell at harvest face softer prices, and seed producers face weak demand before the next planting season.
For starch and flake buyers outside China, lower Chinese factory prices may mean more competitive offers from Chinese suppliers in the coming months. Traders should watch whether prices stabilise after the holiday period, when normal trading resumes.
Photo: Weiyuan County in Dingxi, Gansu, China, seen from a train (illustrative). Pieceofmetalwork / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
