Russia imports early potatoes from Egypt

Torsten Spill from the German production company Solana spoke in Austrian Stockerau about developments on the international potato market. Spill explained that China, along with Russian and India are by far the world's largest potato producers, something which may surprise many. There was another surprise which Spill had to say about the Russian potato market. The price level is presently higher than in Western Europe. Russian consumers pay around 40 cent per kilo. Spill explained a reason for this situation was the large crop losses within the Russian potato industry. Last season's harvest was severely affected in the west and central Russia by the high rain fall in August and November, followed directly by winter frost. In the far east of Russia, such as Kamchatka and Khabarovsk the potato harvest suffered from extreme drought.

Suppliers from the EU could not take advantage of this situation as since July 2013, due to phytosanitary concerns, potato exports have not been allowed. Potato production from the Mediterranean region, especially Egypt, and to a lesser extent Israel, can easily send their product to Russia in return for 10 million tons of grain which Egyptians accept as 'payment' for the potato supplies.