Ukraine has been importing significant volumes of ware potatoes for the second season in a row. Eastfruit... In the first eight months of the current 2020/21 season, the country has already purchased 110 thousand tons of potatoes with a total value of $ 22 million. record figures for Ukraine.
“There have not been such two seasons in a row with critically high imports and almost complete absence of potato exports in Ukraine, not only over the past decade, but, perhaps, in the entire history of the country's independence. In total, from the beginning of the previous season to January 2021, Ukraine only officially managed to import about 550 thousand tons of potatoes, spending over $ 100 million on this, ”says Evgeniy Kuzin, head of international projects at Fruit-Inform.com.
“In the last two seasons, the country has broken all previous records in the purchase of ware potatoes, as the previous record volume of imports was recorded in Ukraine in the distant 2010/11 season. Let me remind you that then for the entire period it reached 18 thousand tons, which now seems to be a very modest figure. For comparison, in January 2021 alone, Ukraine imported 22 thousand tons of ware potatoes, ”adds Yevhen Kuzin.
Last season, the main suppliers of potatoes to Ukraine were Belarus and Russia, the combined share of which in Ukrainian imports then reached 88%. In the current season, due to the rise in prices, the share of supplies from Belarus to Ukraine decreased to 42%, and direct imports from Russia amounted to less than 1% of the total imports.
Nevertheless, Ukraine still maintains one of the highest prices for potatoes in the Eastern Europe region, which allows earning money on the supply of these products to other supplying countries. So, the import of potatoes from Poland, where it is offered almost three times cheaper, managed to exceed 18 thousand tons in June 2020 - January 2021.
Deliveries to the Ukrainian market are also significantly increased by the Netherlands, which have so far exported 11,8 thousand tons of ware potatoes to Ukraine and have every chance to beat the last season's figure (16,7 thousand tons). A significant increase in imports from Lithuania, Romania and Latvia was also recorded. Lithuanian suppliers in the first eight months of the 2020/21 season alone exported 9,6 thousand tons of potatoes to Ukraine, while for the entire last season the volume of exports was 2,1 thousand tons. Meanwhile, Latvia has already exported 10 times more potatoes (6 thousand tons), and Romania exceeded the result of the last season by several hundred times, having supplied 9 thousand tons of this product to Ukraine in the first eight months of the current season.
In Ukraine itself, the price situation on the potato market has been completely focused on imports for at least the second year in a row. Although this dependence has slightly decreased since the 2019/20 season, and prices have strengthened in the country since the fall of 2020, their growth is still constrained by constant imports. However, prices for Ukrainian potatoes are still significantly higher than the average of the previous several seasons.
“Although farmers in Ukraine have been receiving relatively high prices for potatoes for the third consecutive season in comparison with several previous years, the quality of the products offered remains the weak point of Ukrainian potatoes. As a result, the Ukrainian consumer is forced to get used to the constant availability of imported products on the shelves of local supermarkets, and a significant part of the profit from the sales of high quality potatoes leaves the Ukrainian market abroad, ”sums up Yevhen Kuzin.