Bad weather for growing potatoes in Ukraine this year has caused the harvest to drop by 18 percent, causing a sharp jump in prices, higher imports and accelerated inflation, Reuters and BTA reported, citing officials and analysts.
Often referred to as the “second bread”, potatoes are a staple of the Ukrainian diet, with an average consumption of around 130 kg per person per year, well above the average bread consumption of up to 20 kg per year.
The Department of Agriculture predicts this year’s potato harvest could fall to 17.5 million metric tons from 21.3 million in 2023.
“This is a result of bad weather conditions, as the sown area remains unchanged at 1.2 million hectares,” Taras Vysotsky, first deputy minister, told Reuters.
According to analysts, the drop in yields was due to a frost during spring planting, followed by heavy rainfall, then record heat and drought.
According to Vysotsky, the volume of the domestic market, estimated at about 2.5 million tons of potatoes per year before the war, has fallen to 1.5 million tons because of the declining population.
The population consumes about 4 million tons of potatoes, while about 3 million tons are used for sowing, up to 6 million tons are used for animal feed, and a significant part spoils during storage.
Vysotsky points out that up to half of the crop harvested by non-professional growers in home plots is unsuitable.
The crop failure pushed up retail prices, which jumped to 25,000 hryvnias ($605) a tonne from 15,000 hryvnias a year earlier.
Analysts from the specialized portal “EastFruit” say that potatoes were sold for about 22,000 hryvnias per ton as of October 18.
“Potatoes continue to be the most sought after. Last week, one in three advertisements for the purchase of garden products were devoted to potatoes,” EastFruit said.
According to Wysocki, there is no reason for potato prices to rise further in the country, as imports from Poland and the Baltic countries have begun to balance the market. “They say there will be a price of 50-55 hryvnias per kg, (but) we don’t believe that and we don’t see any grounds for it,” he commented, adding that there are already imports, not yet in the millions or hundreds of thousands of tons , but several tens of thousands of tons have already arrived.
The official believes that the price of potatoes will stabilize until February, after which it will depend on a stable supply of energy for the storage facilities.
The jump in potato prices has already weighed on annual inflation in September, which rose 8.6 percent, with vegetables rising by a record 56.4 percent.