Increased demand and limited supply of high-quality potatoes on the Ukrainian local market are contributing to the rapid rise in prices in this segment, analysts of the EastFruit project report. At the same time, selling prices for potatoes are already several times higher than a year ago and continue to rise.
According to price monitoring data of EastFruit, at the end of the last week, lowest wholesale potato prices in the main production regions of Ukraine were close to 12 UAH/kg (US $0.32/kg). Today, almost none of the large producers are ready to sell potatoes cheaper than 14-18 UAH/kg (US $0.37-0.48/kg), which is on average 18% more than a week earlier.
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Growers justify the price increase by a noticeable reduction in offer of substandard products since supplies from unequipped warehouses have fallen to a minimum. At the same time, the demand for higher quality potatoes continues to increase. It is also worth noting that some of the large Ukrainian potato farms are still holding back sales of quality potatoes, counting on further price rise.
Please note that at the moment ware potato prices in Ukraine are already 3.6 times as high as at the end of December 2022. At the same time, many market participants do not predict a weakening of trading activity in this segment in the near future. Moreover, many farmers have announced their intention to continue regular upward price revisions. They explain their decision by the active demand for high-quality potatoes.
It is also safe to increase potato prices for now as potatoes in the neighboring countries cost just as much or slightly more than in Ukraine and are also growing. In Poland potato prices grow almost weekly and have inceased by 21% since the middle of October 2023.
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