Area and harvest of potatoes in the Tula region, trends and forecasts. The cultivated potato sown area (data on agricultural enterprises and peasant farms, excluding households) in the Tula region in 2018, according to the Federal State Statistics Service, amounted to 16,0 thousand ha, which is almost at the level of a year ago (in 2017 this crop was planted on an area of 16,2 thousand hectares). The region's share in the total potato areas in the Russian Federation amounted to 5,4% (second place after the Bryansk region).
Potato harvests in the Tula region in 2017 were at 518,8 thousand tons. In 2018, if the construction of forecast trends is based on the data of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation on the progress of potato harvesting as of September 28, a significant reduction in volumes is expected.
In 2017, by September 28, according to the department, the average yield of harvested potatoes in the Tula region was 33,5 tons per hectare, this year by the same date - 25,3 tons per hectare. At the same time, potatoes in the region have already been harvested from 61,8% of the area. Under the optimistic forecast, the collection will be at the level of 420 thousand tons, with the pessimistic one - it will fall below the mark of 400 thousand tons.
In general, by September 28, 2018, potatoes in the Tula region were harvested from an area of 9,9 thousand hectares (in 2017 by the same date - from an area of 8,7 thousand hectares). Collected 250,5 thousand tons of potatoes (in 2017 by the same date - 292,0 thousand tons).
As for the general trends in the Russian Federation, on September 28 in the industrial sector of potato growing, the harvest of potatoes amounted to 4 397,7 thousand tons (a year earlier to the same date - 4 509,3 thousand tons).
Potato consumption and export potential in the Tula region
Note that the Tula region has been the second largest potato-producing region (after the Bryansk region) for 6 years in a row (2012-2017) in a row. During the last five-year period (2013-2017), the average annual potato production here amounted to 454,5 thousand tons. At the same time, the average annual consumption of industrially grown potatoes was at the level of 73,4 thousand tons.
Tula Oblast is a donor region for potatoes (a region where the volume of production exceeds the volume of consumption). The average annual capacity of the Tula region (without prejudice to domestic consumption) to supply products to other regions of the Russian Federation, for the period under review exceeded 380 thousand tons. This volume is able to cover about 64% of the annual needs of Moscow in this product.
Wholesale prices for potatoes in the Tula region
The 2017 season of potato harvest sales was generally positive for the potato business in the Tula region.
In August 2017 (the beginning of active harvesting in the region), the average wholesale prices for locally produced potatoes in the Tula region, according to AB-Center, were 9,3 RUB / kg (in 2016 - 8,2 RUB / kg). During the most active phase of harvesting (September 2017), they dropped to 8,6 RUB / kg. By November, prices strengthened to 8,9 RUB / kg. The time interval from August to November will be designated as "the period of active sales from the field and laying potatoes for storage." Average prices during this period in 2017 were on average 13% higher than in 2016. Starting from December 2017, prices started to grow and already at the end of the month amounted to 10,4 RUB / kg. The peak value of the 2017 potato crop in the Tula region reached in April 2018 - 14,9 RUB / kg. In May 2018, prices for old-crop potatoes, while waiting for the sales season for new-crop potatoes, decreased on average to 11,7 RUB / kg, and by the end of the month, average prices did not exceed 10,5 RUB / kg.
The time interval from December to May will be designated as "the period of active implementation from repositories." During this period of the 2017/2018 season. (December 2017 - May 2018) the average price (arithmetic mean of weekly values) was almost 18% higher than a year earlier (December 2016 - May 2017).
The season of potato harvest sales in 2018 started with lower prices than a year earlier.
So, in August 2018, the average prices for Tula potatoes, according to AB-Center, amounted to 9,0 RUB / kg (a year earlier - 9,3 RUB / kg). In September 2018, prices were at 8,1 RUB / kg (in September 2017 - 8,6 RUB / kg). Thus, in August-September 2018, prices were on average 4,5% lower than the levels that were observed in August-September 2017. This trend is primarily due to the fact that the harvesting campaign of potatoes in the Russian Federation as a whole in August and the first half of September 2018 was going ahead with some advance in relation to the indicators of a year ago.
- Retail prices for potatoes in the Tula region
The average retail prices for potatoes in the Tula region, as of September 24, 2018, according to the Federal State Statistics Service, amounted to 22,8 RUB / kg. For a month, seasonal price reduction amounted to 11,2%, for two months prices fell by 30,0%. At the same time, in relation to the indicators a year ago, despite a slight weakening of wholesale prices, retail prices for potatoes have significantly strengthened, which may be due to general inflationary processes in the country.
Based on: http://ab-centre.ru/