Exports of potatoes from Ukraine by 2023 will be records high

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As per EastFruit analysts, during the first quarter of 2023, Ukrainian farmers exported records quantities of potatoes that were fresh, despite Russian violence towards Ukraine. But, these record volumes have a an unpleasant aftertaste, and suggest serious issues for the viability of the sector.

We’ll start by presenting facts and facts and figures. Exports of commercial potato products from Ukraine during the first quarter of 2023 were 19.8 thousand tonnes, which is the highest amount ever recorded. The most recent time Ukraine exports over 10 000 tonnes of potatoes during the first part of 2023 was ten year ago. i.e. 2013 when exports totaled 14.7 thousands of tons.

Furthermore, the exports of potato for the initial six months of 2023 was 2.3 times greater than 2022 in the same time frame and 3.8 times greater than the average of the last five years. These numbers are impressive So what’s wrong?

The issue is that has been mentioned numerous times. Exports of potatoes from Ukraine generally coincide with major difficulties for farmers. Price charts for the potatoes during the beginning of the year tells everything.

The price of US $0.16 dollars per kilogram was the average wholesale cost of potatoes as on March 20, 2023, in Ukraine. If you’re a farmer and have had the privilege of growing potatoes before and knows the value, this price is not enough to be able to cover the cost of cultivating and cost of premium seeds.

The other bad information is that 91 percent of the record amount of potato exports out of Ukraine was sent to one nation; Moldova. Why? It is because of poor quality.

“In Ukraine most potato growers don’t see the distinction between the raw materials and the finished items. Field-harvest products may end up on store shelves with no further preparation and sorting, as well as sizing and even packaging. In the same way people who invest in potato post harvest processing often discover that the potato harvest, the appearance of potatoes is more shabby than they did prior to. That means that we must first look at a full review of the methods used to cultivate such like Thomas Carpenter, a potato farmer from Ireland has demonstrated via personal examples during one of our conference.”

“Alas it is true that the response of industry to complaints about quality of product generally is not constructive which results in the fact that for a number of years in a row, the producers get caught in the trap of poor quality that causes Ukrainian potato “unexportable.” In the end in the absence of potential export opportunities makes prices fall to under the production costs,” says Andriy Yarmak who is the economist at the Investment Centre of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).


For more details: east-fruit.com

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Source: The Plantations International Agroforestry Group of Companies