For the third week in a row in Moldova, the average level of wholesale prices for potatoes has not changed – around 4 MDL/kg ($0.23/kg). However, according to the monitoring by EastFruit, the growth of minimum prices has resumed this week – potatoes are purchased in bulk at no less than 3.5 MDL/kg ($0.20/kg).
According to potato growers, as stocks of low-quality potatoes from fields decrease in the domestic market, they start selling higher-quality potatoes from vegetable storages. Consequently, the rise in price of both low and high-quality local potatoes is possible in the near future. Meanwhile, potatoes on the Moldovan market are more expensive at the beginning of the second decade of November 2021 than in the same period last year ($0.18/kg).
Representatives of the Moldovan Potato Growers Association believe that by the end of the year, the wholesale price for potatoes may well increase to 6-7 MDL/kg ($0.34-0.39/kg), that is, to the level of December 2019. The only question is how fast local potato growers will get rid of stocks, as well as how many imported products will enter the domestic market.
At the moment, exports of potatoes to the Moldovan market are not yet large, although the average wholesale price in neighboring Ukraine is lower – about $0.17/kg. If the price of local potatoes in Moldova rises in the near future, at least some local supermarkets will probably intensify purchases in Ukraine.
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