According to the observations of seed companies, next year in Russia will be marked by potatoes. Experts come to this conclusion, focusing on the growth in demand for seed potatoes, which has been recorded on the domestic market literally from the end of August to the present day.
“In October-November 2020, we have contracted approximately 100-150% more products than in the same period last year,” comments Svetlana Marsheva, General Director of LLC NORIKA-SLAVIA.
The buying activity is quite understandable: the prices for table potatoes this year are noticeably higher than in previous seasons. This means, according to Natalya Morozova, head of the potato department of the German Seed Alliance, potato farms felt a little more free, they had funds, and their interest in growing crops increased.
Although, perhaps, this is not the only point. According to Alexander Volodin, commercial director of AGRICO-EURASIA LLC, the increase in applications for seeds is partly due to a decrease in offers on the market: the year was difficult, in a number of regions (for example, in the traditionally seed-growing north-west of the country and in certain districts of the Moscow region) weather conditions did not allow getting a good harvest of quality seed material.
Seed potatoes of domestic production remain the most popular among Russian potato growers. Many farms have reduced the volume of purchases of imported material or completely refused to purchase it due to the sharp drop in the ruble exchange rate.
“The trade is carried out in euros, the rate of which has greatly increased. - Svetlana Marsheva explains, - Of course, we are doing everything in our power to mitigate the situation: we have agreed with the German office of the company on special conditions for the purchase of seeds for our partners in the Russian Federation, and have minimized our reimbursements for organizing these contracts. All the measures taken give us the opportunity to smooth the situation, but of course, it will not be possible to fully compensate for the currency jump and return the cost to the level of the previous and the year before last ”.
True, the volume of offers for Russia on the foreign market this year is not very large. As Natalya Morozova notes, climatic conditions around the world were not the most favorable; problems also affected certain regions of Germany and the Netherlands.
Although it is also wrong to declare a shortage of European seeds, Svetlana Marsheva is convinced: “We submitted a consolidated application to our German partners in advance (based on requests from Russian buyers) for the volume that we would like to receive. I am sure that our German colleagues will do everything possible to ensure it. "
Interestingly, prices for licensed domestically produced seed potatoes have not changed yet.
“There are, of course, objective reasons for the increase in prices for local seed material,” explains Natalya Morozova, “but taking into account the already difficult economic situation in the country, the companies found it possible to maintain last year's price level, since the cost of seed potatoes produced in Russia is not so significantly dependent on instability in the foreign exchange market. Most of the large breeding and seed companies operating in the domestic market have already achieved a lot in organizing local production: they receive material of very high reproductions in our country, and do not buy it annually abroad, as it was before. " Speaking about the most popular varieties of this season, the representatives of the selection and seed companies did not highlight any fundamental changes in the directions of demand. According to experts, buyers pay attention to promising new products, looking for early and very early varieties. The recognized leaders of the varietal lines of breeder companies do not lose their positions. There is an increase in the need for varieties for processing (The year ending was not easy for farms specializing in their cultivation, therefore, according to Svetlana Marsheva, an increase in requests was expected).
At the same time, all interview participants emphasize that the bulk of popular positions in their companies have already been contracted, and those who are thinking about buying have very little time left to make a decision.
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