It's August, which means there will soon be a lot of talk about Russia's second bread - potatoes, about its harvest and prices on the market.
For Altai potato growers, the previous season of 2018-2019 turned out to be a failure. The purchase price in retail chains fluctuated around 10 rubles (retailers predicted a rise in prices, but were wrong). Our company regularly participates in various auctions. Today we have about 200 tons of potatoes left. We sell it at nine to ten rubles per kilogram. Ten - this is with our delivery, nine - for those who export to Moscow, Penza, St. Petersburg. The demand from there appeared in mid-June.
And the forecasts for the new season for producers are still disappointing. We are excluded from the market - retail chains and, oddly enough, companies that have learned to take advantage of the imperfection of our laws, control prices. And this is one of our main problems. There is no well-thought-out state policy in relation to potato growers, it is enough to recall the Federal Law No. 44 on state purchases, according to which any one-day company that has nothing to do with agriculture can offer a price that is two times lower than the cost price. On the one hand, this is good for the state, on the other hand, it may soon happen that there will be no one to give subsidies and grants. And the FAS, apparently, is busy with more important matters. Vegetable growers in Altai are actively helping each other, and we are aware of what is happening to anyone. Everyone is in a difficult situation. The accumulated "fat reserves" are over. Working further at these wholesale prices is a road to ruin.
The second problem arises from the first - there is no acceptable price for potatoes. Our company has been doing it since 2008. Then the wholesale price was 11,5 rubles. All the while, production costs rise and the selling price falls. In May 2018, the potatoes, which we cherished and cherished all winter, hoping to sell them profitably, had to be sold at six rubles per kilogram. According to our data, this was due to large purchases of imported potatoes by the chains. Then all the big chains will one fine April day - believe me, I'm not exaggerating, one day! - they told us: "We will not work with local potatoes." They stated that there was allegedly no proper quality. The price of local potatoes fell to six rubles - we somehow sold our harvest. This year there are no imported potatoes (our producers have saturated the country with this product), but the wholesale price is still not growing.
Selling potatoes to other regions is very difficult. Geographically, we are at a standstill. The ratio in the region of urban and rural population is also affected (43 percent live in the village). Even in Barnaul, many grow potatoes in their summer cottages or bring from relatives from villages. The market expands only at a time when other potatoes are running out in other regions.
The third problem is associated with an acute shortage of quality seed material. It is difficult to find high-quality seeds in Russia - this is such a Russian roulette ... There was a case when we took potatoes with all the necessary documents in seed farms and received 46 percent of bacterial rot.
Source: https://rg.ru/