W10: Weekly Common & Sweet Potato Update

Potato

India

West Bengal, India: Record Potato Production Frustrates Bengal Growers

In early 2023, there was a record-breaking crop of potatoes produced in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. Producers are now forced to offer potatoes at discount prices since the market has limited demand growth. Bengali farmers appear to be the most severely impacted. It is thought that middlemen, traders, and managers of cold storage facilities were responsible for the significant price reduction at the growers' level. Unexpectedly, neither the state nor the federal government has stepped in to help the struggling potato farmers.

Pakistan

Pakistan Wants to Grow Seed Potatoes Itself

Due to Pakistan's heavy reliance on imports, many low-income farmers are unable to afford the exorbitant cost of locally produced, high-quality seed potatoes. As Punjab, Pakistan's primary potato-growing region was spared by the floods last year, potato yields increased from 5.87MMT in 2021 to 7.94MMT in 2022, a 35% increase. On the other hand, Pakistan imports 20K MT of seed potatoes per year. Increased domestic seed potato production can therefore help save important foreign exchange reserves and boost farmers' revenue.

Russia

Russia’s Stavropol Region Has Significantly Increased the Export of Potatoes

In 2023, the Stavropol Territory exported significantly more potatoes than it did in 2022. Around 3,427MT were sent in the first two months through the major sales channels, which were the nearby countries. Armenia has purchased roughly 2,357MT of Stavropol potatoes this year, making it the largest consumer. Georgia is next in line in terms of imports (almost 880MT). Modest volumes in South Ossetia (only 10MT).

Russia Limits Potato Imports to Sell Domestic Production

After a bumper harvest, potato stocks in Russia have reached record highs, but farmers are having trouble getting them to the domestic market. The potato farmers' organisation discussed the necessity of placing a temporary restriction on potato imports in order to increase local demand at a meeting held at the Ministry of Agriculture. Russian potato production increased by 4.3% from the prior year to 18.7MMT in 2022. In spite of this, wholesale prices have decreased by 37.3% since the year's beginning. In spite of this, wholesale prices have decreased by 37.3% since the year's beginning. Farmers were caught off guard by this unexpected circumstance since they had anticipated greater pricing. Moreover, 40–60% of the products from particular farms are thought to still be stored in warehouses.

Spring Sowing Started in Russia’s Kabardino-Balkaria in W10

In W10, farmers from Kabardino-Tersky Balkaria's region have begun the spring sowing campaign. 12 hectares of potatoes and the first 65 hectares of spring barley have been sown. This year in Kabardino-Balkaria, according to preliminary data, it is planned to sow spring crops in an area of about 220K hectares.

South Africa

Soaring Cost of Potatoes Drives up the South African Shisa Nyama Index

According to the Shisa Nyama Index, South Africa, which has a 32.7% unemployment rate and power shortages that have led to rolling blackouts every day this year, is expected to be difficult for low-income earners in 2023. The cost of potatoes surged 28% over the past two months, the highest increase of any single ingredient in Bloomberg's Shisa Nyama Index.

Brazil

Potatoes Devalue With Higher Supply in Brazil 

With the highest quantity of potatoes offered in W9, tuber values declined. This is due to the fact that the water harvesting has become more intense in the majority of the squares. The average price of a sack of potatoes traded in Rio de Janeiro between February 27 and March 3 was USD 13.38/25kg, down 18.04% WoW. In wholesale markets in São Paulo (Ceagesp) and Belo Horizonte (MG), the potato was sold for USD 12.66/25 kg bag, down 21.14% and 13.26%, respectively.

Mexico

In February the Price Increase of Potatoes Slowed Down

Prices for potatoes, cattle, pigs, poultry, and other items decreased in February. The slowdown is a result of a significant group of goods, like meats and black potatoes, whose prices had been increasing. In the case of the potato, there were reductions of more than 10% in all black potato types, including the capira, the brown pastusa, and the only one; nevertheless, the criolla potato had the opposite trend. It is even more relevant because it occurred at a time when the flow of this and other products from Nariño to the rest of the country was greatly affected.

Uzbekistan

Early Potatoes in Uzbekistan Are Delayed, Imports Will Rise Sharply

The time for planting potatoes had also been significantly delayed as a result of the January frosts. Farmers claim that 2023's potato planting in the southernmost portion of Uzbekistan, the Surkhandarya region, began during the second and third weeks of February, which is about three weeks later than it did in 2022. As a result, the potato harvest is "shifted" by approximately the same amount of time. Since it is probable that importing potatoes would require three more weeks during this time of the year, this also means an increase in the volume of imports of these products in the first half of 2023.

Moldova

Potatoes Price in Moldova Fell in W10

On the Moldovan market, the wholesale price for potatoes in 2022 dropped by almost 7%, to an average of USD 0.34/kg. The price of W10 fluctuates daily between USD 0.11-0.22/kg in Chisinau's wholesale and retail markets, despite the fact that the downward trend is unstable. Contradictory predictions have been made by market participants for March: one predicts a further gradual decline in prices due to unusually warm weather and weak consumer demand; the other predicts a stabilization or even a slight increase due to modest commodity stocks of potatoes from local farmers and a shortage of supplies from Ukraine and Poland.

Georgia

Potato and Nut Imports Record With Quince and Kiwi Exports for December 2022 Results in Georgia

The import of potatoes reached a new record in Georgia's final month of 2022, which was notable for the country's foreign trade in fruits and vegetables.  The root crop's low harvest in Samtskhe-Javakheti, Georgia's primary producing region, and the seasonal depletion of local stocks were the reasons for this. The crisis also had an impact on the export of these goods; the supply of Georgian potatoes to foreign markets continued to plummet. As a result, the Georgian market received about 5,700MT of imported potatoes in December (more than 43 times more than in the same period in 2021). Just 74MT were exported which is 28 times less than in December last year.

Italy

Potatoes Are Good Quality Despite the Climate, Areas Down by 15%

The intense perturbations that affected south-eastern Sicily in the first ten days of February caused damage to the plant's foliar apparatus, especially in plots near the sea. These perturbations were characterized by strong wind gusts and rainfall in the range of 250/300 mm in just 48 hours. The recovery and vegetative growth of the plants were partially made possible by the favorable weather in the ensuing weeks. Although there are fewer tubers per plant, the output is distinguished by a product of exceptional quality and uniform size. There are still serious problems with the reduction of surfaces, even though there has been a 15% decline since 2022.

Ukraine

Potato Prices Increased in W10 in Ukraine

The market for borscht vegetables in W10 was marked by an increase in the price of potatoes in Ukraine. The steady seasonal decline in stocks caused the price of tubers to slightly climb despite the increase in the supply of these goods. Hence, the price of potatoes in Ukraine at the conclusion of W10 stood at USD 0.19/kg.