The new supply of Chinese potatoes will enter the market in April. Based on the experience of previous years, the price of potatoes in storage is expected to drop when new potatoes enter the market. Traders are aware of this pattern and their desire to offload last year's stock is intense. Zhuochuang Information data analyst He Tan explained the changing market for potatoes from storage and concluded that the price of potatoes from storage is currently much higher than it was around this time last year.
According to He Tan many potato production areas suffered from a cold current in early April, 2018, which resulted in much damage to the growing potatoes. The product quality of potatoes dropped. Last year in autumn, potato production areas experienced heavy rainfall. The high temperatures and high moisture content in the air resulted in severe potato rot. The product quality continued to fall while the potatoes were in storage. Furthermore the winter at the end of 2018 was relatively warm, which further stimulated rot among potatoes in storage. All the potatoes currently on the Chinese market come from storage. Top-quality potatoes are difficult to find at the moment. Furthermore, the overall volume in storage is smaller than around this time last year. The price is therefore higher than in 2018.
He Tan further stated that the price of new potatoes will not be high this production season because the overall surface area devoted to potato plantation greatly increased this year. As the temperatures rise throughout the country, and the difference in temperature becomes smaller, potatoes begin to grow more quickly. Many production areas can expect an abundant harvest this year, which will put pressure on the market's ability to absorb the production volume. The price will therefore not increase too much.
Source: cnr.cn