October brought a further rise in wholesale prices for potatoes in Poland. This means that, despite the ongoing harvesting and the associated increase in current supply, the demand for potatoes is still high, EastFruit project analysts report with reference to the fresh-market website. If this continues, the average price of potatoes in Poland this month may reach the highest level in recent years.
Currently, prices for yellow potatoes are at the level of 0.80-1.33 PLN/kg ($0.16-0.27/kg). Prices for red potatoes are 0.93–1.47 PLN/kg ($0.19–0.29/kg) and for white potatoes 1.00–1.47 PLN/kg ($0.20–0.29/kg). At the same time, there are offers of local potatoes with a starting price of 1.50 PLN/kg ($0.30/kg).
The main factors contributing to the rapid increase in potato prices on the Polish market are low supply on the one hand and good demand on the other. According to GUS, Poland’s 2022 potato harvest will be only 6.1 million tonnes, the lowest level since at least 2010. The fact is that low harvests do not mean record prices, as the 2015/2016 season showed, but this year’s price growth is supported by high demand, especially from exporters. Thus, importers from Hungary, Lithuania and Romania are already showing interest in Polish potatoes. In addition, Polish potatoes are most likely to be exported to Ukraine.
Everything points to the fact that potato prices in the season 2022/2023 will be at an all-time high. At the same time, inflation and a huge increase in the cost of production and storage of vegetables affect the profitability of the agricultural sector, including potato production.
