Ukraine has started importing cheap potatoes from Poland, where prices have fallen even faster than in Primordial Crain due to the disappearance of the decline in the catering industry. Ukraine had already started buying potatoes in the Netherlands earlier.
The oversupply in Poland has put prices under such pressure that they are being offered cheaper than the Ukrainian cost price, Taras Bashtannyk, the president of the Ukrainian Fruit and Vegetables Association (UPOA), announced. “We have been importing products from Russia and Belarus for two years now and this year, at the beginning of the summer, we started importing potatoes from the Netherlands and now the import from Poland has also started. This is due to the fact that prices and consumption in Poland has fallen significantly. The large volumes of potatoes on the market “put” pressure on the prices covered by the production costs, “he said.
The average price of potatoes on the wholesale markets in Poland was below that of Ukraine this month. According to the expert, Ukraine needs to develop its own strong, competitive potato sector to face such challenges from international markets. This will allow Ukrainian producers not only to produce very efficiently, but also to create added value, which will create new jobs.
Imports of fresh or chilled potatoes into Ukraine in the first eight months of this year were $ 51.27 million, six times more than in the same period last year. UNN reported this with reference to the State Customs. For example, the import of potatoes for the same period last year was only 8.5 million dollars. This year, Belarus ($ 21.42 million), the Netherlands ($ 11.97 million) and the Russian Federation ($ 7.23 million) are the top 3 exporters of potatoes to Ukraine.\
