Russia causes shortage of seed potatoes in the European Union

Published 2022년 2월 2일

Tridge summary

The seed potato market in the EU is experiencing a price surge due to a scarcity, with the Netherlands struggling to meet demand. The shortage is partly due to Russia's potato production shortfall, which was caused by a severe disease outbreak. This scarcity has led to a rise in potato prices in Egypt and neighboring countries, triggering increased demand for seed potatoes, particularly from Uzbekistan. Dutch suppliers, who account for half of the global seed potato export market, are struggling to fulfill orders due to existing contracts and high demand. As a result, seed potato prices are expected to keep rising, potentially influencing potato cultivation decisions and production costs.

Disclaimer:The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

The developments on the seed potato market in the EU countries are remarkable. According to EastFruit analysts, seed potato prices are much higher than usual this season, especially after the relatively unsuccessful previous seasons. Buying seed potatoes, even at a high price and in large quantities in their main export country, is now very problematic. Although the Netherlands currently does not supply any seed potatoes to Russia, it is Russia that makes the largest contribution to a shortage of seed potatoes in the Netherlands. Incidentally, Russia itself used to be a fairly large exporter of seed potatoes. The country came in at the end of 2020 in the top 7 global exporters of seed potatoes, with an export of more than 70,000 tons. The main markets for seed potatoes from Russia were Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Belarus. How could Russia be involved in the shortage of seed potatoes on the European market? We already wrote that in the 2021/22 season Russia ...

Source: AGF