For several weeks now, consumers in Uzbekistan have been consuming early-crop early potatoes, nearly three weeks ahead of the long-term average.
As of April 11, the retail price for it is 10-11 thousand soums / kg ($ 0,95-1,05). And three days ago, the wholesale price for potatoes at the wholesale market "Kuylyuk" in Tashkent was approximately the same. In other words, the price of this product is decreasing at such a rate that in 3 days retail prices literally caught up with wholesale ones. The maximum wholesale price for early potatoes this year was noted by EastFruit experts on March 26, when this season's novelty was sold at prices ranging from 17 soums / kg ($ 1,62) to 27 soums / kg ($ 2,57).
Last year, early potatoes hit the consumer market in Uzbekistan in early April. As of April 9, 2020, this product was sold on the Tashkent wholesale market at an average of 12 sum / kg ($ 000). Those. this year sales started with higher prices, but they started earlier.
At the same time, prices for last year's potatoes (harvest 2020) in Uzbekistan are now roughly in line with prices a year earlier. Wholesale old potatoes are sold at 4 thousand soums / kg, or about $ 0,38 per kg - about three times cheaper than "young" potatoes. Nevertheless, both goods are in demand. By the way, this season prices for "old" potatoes are high, but stable, but last year, when the coronavirus pandemic was just beginning, there were sharp drops in tuber prices.
Why did young potatoes in Uzbekistan “enter” the market three weeks earlier in 2021? Experts explain this by the abnormally warm weather that settled in Uzbekistan from late January to late February. Despite the fact that the sharp cold snap that followed the warmth in late February and mid-March led to significant damage to the future stone fruit harvest, it is likely that such temperature jumps did not significantly affect the early potato harvest.
The highest prices for the first early potatoes in 2021 were 75% higher than last year, thanks to an earlier market launch. In the same period, prices for last year's potatoes were higher than a year earlier. Apparently a significant part of tubers, incl. and commercial, was used to expand the area, which, as we already wrote, can lead to a sharp decrease in the volume of potato imports to Uzbekistan in the new season.
As noted above, young potato prices tend to decline rapidly, literally day after day, as supply increases in the market. If we assume that the price for it will decrease at about the same pace as last year, we should expect prices for early potatoes at the level of 5,5 thousand soums / kg ($ 0,52) by the end of April - beginning of May this year.