According to the daily market monitoring of the EastFruit project, prices for new potatoes in Ukraine are declining this week. According to the local potato growers, the main reason for the price decline is the weather improvement and the resumption of harvesting in most regions of the country. This in turn led to an increase in potato supply and affected the price.
Presently Ukrainian farmers offer new crop potatoes for 16-24 UAH/kg ($0.44-0.66/kg), which is around 20% cheaper than a week earlier. It is a normal seasonal trend – usually at this time of the year potato prices decline in Ukraine almost daily. At the same time, the quality of the potatoes offered is often rather low, which also puts pressure on prices in this segment.
It should be noted that in early July 2022 potato prices in Ukraine were 38% lower than today. However, the project’s analysts do not rule out that the downward trend in prices in this segment may continue, as the supply of potatoes in the market increases.
During the whole 2022/23 season Ukraine had an extremely low potato price as due to the Russian invasion many small growers decided to plant potatoes to make sure they had some food of their own. This has simultaneously led to an increase of potato supply and a decline in potato demand in Ukraine, oppressing the prices. Exports of potatoes to the EU are restricted by non-tariff barriers and, consequently, large potato growers in Ukraine suffered severe losses in the previous season.
For more information: east-fruit.com