Over the year, potatoes have risen in price by almost one and a half times and topped the "standings" in terms of price increases among all products. In addition to the poor harvest last year, the increase in the cost of resources affected. But the rise in prices made this business attractive to farmers - this year they promise to plant more potatoes.
In the wholesale segment, the price of potatoes in April 2021 increased by 50% compared to April last year, estimates the executive director of the Potato Union Alexei Krasilnikov. In retail, potatoes went up by 47,7%, according to the AB-Center, an expert and analytical center for agribusiness.
Over the past 3-4 years, due to low prices for potatoes, farmers had almost no profitability, which led to a reduction in areas by 10 thousand hectares (primarily in personal subsidiary farms and small producers). With an average yield of 20-25 centners per hectare, we have thus lost 500 thousand tons. And only Moscow and the region eat 700-800 thousand tons of potatoes per year. In addition, the increase in the cost of seeds affected: they are mainly imported and their share in the cost of production is the largest - about 20%. Prices for chemicals, fuel and more have also increased. A separate story is the existing shortage of personnel due to the impossibility of attracting migrants to seasonal work. The industry had to urgently look for workers and pay wages 30-50% higher than usual. According to Aleksey Krasilnikov, now migrants still visit potato farms, but the need for personnel will not be fully covered.
But this year Russia must make up for the losses. According to the forecast of the Ministry of Agriculture, potatoes will be planted on an area of 290,5 thousand hectares, which is 10 thousand hectares more than last year, says Krasilnikov. At the same time, the weather is still favorable for a good harvest.
But some of the potatoes will go for processing: in the near future, a number of enterprises for the production of French fries and chips will be launched in Russia. These are more marginal products that will give agricultural enterprises a good stable income. Alexey Krasilnikov predicts that potatoes will be on the shelves of stores no less than last year. At the same time, at least at the beginning of the season, with the arrival of a new crop, prices for potatoes will traditionally decrease. But it is difficult to guarantee that such a price will remain for the entire season - all the negative factors of the past year will continue to put pressure on prices. However, according to Alexei Krasilnikov, the rise in price from 20 to 25 rubles. per kg, potatoes will not hit the wallets of Russians as hard as, for example, more expensive meat or fish. But the rise in prices motivates farmers to expand plantings. Now we grow about 7-7,5 million tons of potatoes per year, but we can increase production to 12 million tons, says Krasilnikov. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, self-sufficiency in potatoes last year was not achieved and amounted to 86%.