The situation of potatoes on the Italian market is not very good, as prices are low and supply is abundant. Things are made worse by the French production and the Russian ban.
"It's a difficult year. Producers should make around 25-30 cents per kilo, as production costs hover around 20 and 24 cents per kilo. This means that they should be sold at around 90 cents/€1, especially considering that 1 kg of potato serves 5 people. The situation though is very different as some are selling on field at 10-12 cents per kilo," explains Roberto Piazza, director of FedagroMercati in Bologna.
This happens because there was a 5-6% increase in production and also because the Russian ban and pressure from France, the main competitor of the sector.
Potato display on a French retailer shelf.
"Because of the ban, Europe cannot export potatoes towards Russia, which is usually a great importer buying hundreds of thousands of tons each year. A lot of people are thus putting their produce on special offer or directing it towards to processing industry."
Then there's the pressure from France. "In Italy, potato producers are usually quite small, working on 7-8 hectares, whereas in France the produce is cultivated on 50-100 hectares, so production costs are much lower. 500-600 thousand tons are exported to Italy at lower prices than ours."
"Quite a few retailers are not even paying for the potatoes, but rather they are selling them on consignment as they don't want to put them in cold-storage units because 80-90% of that is harvested now is then sold in April-May."
"If there are no new commercial outlets, we will have to deal with oversupply. We are trying to open new markets in the Mediterranean and especially Morocco, Libya, Egypt and Israel, as they only produce early potatoes."
Contacts:
FedagroMercati Bologna
Via Paolo Canali, 1
Bologna c/o Caab – Centro Agro Alimentare Bologna
Tel: (+39) 051/2863151
Fax: (+39) 051/2863160
Email: fedagromercati@gmail.com