Uzbekistan imported 310,000 tons of potatoes during the January-July 2021 period, worth USD35.4m, which is ‘the highest figure for this period over the past two decades’, EastFruit analysts report, thus contributing to price stability in the domestic market.
Based on the State Statistics Committee data compiled by the above-mentioned source, the imports of potatoes in seven months of 2021 in volumes exceeded the imports in the previous year by 791,000 tons or 34%.
Almost the entire volume (99.7%) of potatoes imported to Uzbekistan in January-July 2021 was supplied from six countries: Iran – 119,000 tons (38.5% of total imports); Kazakhstan – 85,000 tons (27.4%); Pakistan – 75,500 tons (24.4%); Kyrgyzstan – 16,800 tons (5.4%); Netherlands – 8,100 tons (2.6%); Russia – 4,200 tons (1.4%), and other countries – 1,000 tons (0.3%).
Worth mentioning is also the fact that during the January-June 2021 period, over 1.5m tons of potatoes were produced in Uzbekistan, which is 3.5% more than in the same period last year. Along with the increase in the import volume to 310,000 tons in January-July 2021, this explains the fact that the current prices are at the same level as in September last year.
As of September 9, 2021, the average wholesale price for potatoes in the capital markets of Uzbekistan was USD0.28 per kg. On the same date in 2020, the average wholesale prices for potatoes were almost the same – USD0.29 per kilo.
