The Bangladesh Cold Storage Association has released a statement warning that potatoes prices in Bangladesh may exceed Tk 50 per kilogram later in the year. They attribute the price increase to a predicted decline in the production. According to the President of the Association, Mostofa Azad Chowdhury Babu bad weather is likely to cause minimum 20% decrease in the yield of this year’s potatoes. In addition, the unplanned selling of potato products by the farmers who account about 30% of their produce will likely to increase the production gap.

In a press conference held at a press conference in Dhaka, Babu highlighted that prices for farm-level potatoes have risen to between Tk 27 and 32 per kilogram, which is a substantial improvement from last year’s high of about Tk 15 per kilogram. In Dhaka prices have already increased to Tk 45 per kilogram close to the record-setting maximum of Tk 70 for a kilogram in the month of October last year. The increase in prices resulted in the approval of potatoes imports for the first time. However, the policy did not see much implementation because of the importers’ concern over the low profit margins. Bangladesh producing 11 million tonnes of potatoes by 2022, and ranked third in the world’s top three producers Asia has a projected annual requirement of 9 millions tonnes, according to estimates according to the Department of Agricultural Marketing.

[ Tk 100 equals EUR0.84 [ Tk 100 = EUR0.84

Source: today.thefinancialexpress.com.bd