Lithuania: Potato Area Falls 87% Since 2000 to 14,360 Hectares, but 2025 Yield Hits 19.3 t/ha
Lithuania harvested 276,960 tonnes of potatoes on 14,360 hectares in 2025, Eurostat data show. The area is 87% smaller than in 2000, but the yield was the best since at least 2010.
Lithuania harvested 276,960 tonnes of potatoes in 2025, according to Eurostat. The crop grew on 14,360 hectares. The average yield was 19.28 tonnes per hectare, the highest in the Eurostat series since 2010. In 2024, the harvest was 265,330 tonnes from 14,670 hectares. So output rose by about 4% while the area fell slightly.
A long decline in area
In 2000, Lithuania grew potatoes on 109,300 hectares and harvested 1.79 million tonnes, Eurostat data show. Since then, the area has fallen by about 87%. Output has fallen by about 85%. Yields improved only slowly. In 2010 the average was 16 tonnes per hectare. In most years since then it stayed between 13 and 19 tonnes.
Statistics Lithuania has long reported that the country eats more potatoes than it grows. In a 2021 release, it said growers harvested 333,700 tonnes in 2019, while consumption was 371,000 tonnes. In 2015, consumption was 442,000 tonnes. The office counts home gardens, so its totals are higher than the Eurostat figures.
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Trade and prices
Trade in fresh potatoes is small compared with the crop. Eurostat trade data for HS code 0701 show imports of 24,027 tonnes in 2025 and exports of 33,717 tonnes. In 2024, imports were 13,081 tonnes and exports 31,132 tonnes. In 2022, after a weak harvest, imports reached 26,796 tonnes.
Potato prices went up in 2025. The Agricultural Data Centre (ŽŪDC) said the average potato price in January to October 2025 was €0.89 per kilogram. It was €0.81 in 2024 and €0.88 in 2023. Vilnius was the most expensive region at €0.98 per kilogram. Klaipėda was the cheapest at €0.83. Prices change up to four times over the year, from about €0.60–0.70 in autumn to €1.50–2.50 for new potatoes in June.
Why it matters
Lithuania is now a much smaller potato producer than in 2000, and its yields are still low compared with Slovakia, where the 2025 average was 30.9 tonnes per hectare, according to Eurostat.
The 2025 season shows that better yields can hold output steady even as the area shrinks. For seed and input suppliers, the growth market is productivity on fewer, larger farms. For traders, Lithuania is close to balance in fresh potatoes, but a poor season can quickly raise imports, as in 2022.
Photo: Cepelinai, a traditional Lithuanian potato dish, in Vilnius (illustrative). Diliff / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
