Potato

Georgian Fresh Potato Exports at Record High in October

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After an unusually high level of fresh potato exports from Georgia in September 2021, they increased even more in October. According to the official trade data of the Ministry of Finance of Georgia, Georgia exported 9,700 tons of potatoes in October 2021, which is 90% more than October exports over the last seven years combined. Russia remained the key destination with an 81% share in export volumes. The export price on FOB terms for the Russian market was $420 per ton, which is the highest price among the countries importing potatoes from Georgia in October.

Due to the unprecedented demand on the Russian market in September and October 2021, the export of Georgian fresh potatoes amounted to 16,000 tons. This is three times more than the total exports for these months of 2014-2020.

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Russia Increased Potato Imports from Iran, Moldova and Kyrgyzstan

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Record high prices for potatoes in Russia and fears of a shortage of potatoes in the 2021/22 season are forcing Russian traders to look for suppliers around the world. Normally local stocks are the highest at this time and Russia exports potatoes. Imports usually begin only in March or April, when local stocks are exhausted.

Since Russia has banned the supply of potatoes to its market from the EU, Ukraine, the United States and a number of other countries, the search for alternative suppliers of potatoes will not be an easy task in the “scarce years”. Egypt, the main potato supplier to Russia, will be able to export no earlier than February. Belarus itself is facing record-high prices and is also importing potatoes, namely, from Ukraine.

Russian potato growers can now sell them on average 3 times more expensive than usual at this time. Such a high level of prices can rationalize potato imports from rather distant countries. Russian importers manage to buy potatoes at an affordable price in Kyrgyzstan and Moldova now. The volumes of these supplies can be large by the standards of the supplying countries, but they are small for the Russian Federation. According to traders, there are also more and more potatoes supplied to the Russian market from Iran. This is a case of large volumes. The possibilities of importing potatoes even from Pakistan are being researched now.

It is notable that Central Asian countries, especially Uzbekistan, are deficient in potatoes. Only Kyrgyzstan grows enough to provide large export volumes. Farmers in the mountainous regions of the country focus on potato production. With a temperate mountain climate and sufficient precipitation, as well as high potato prices in the region, potato farming is a profitable and sustainable business for small and medium-sized farms in Kyrgyzstan.

A sharp increase in the supply of Kyrgyz potatoes to Russia this year could lead to a jump in their prices in Central Asia. For instance, Uzbekistan previously imported potatoes mainly from Russia, but the price level in Russia is so high this year that imports are out of the question. At the same time, Uzbekistan itself has already imported a record volume of potatoes in the first half of the year.

As for Russia, a further sharp rise in prices on the local potato market is very likely, unless market participants made a mistake in assessing the harvest. If it turns out that potato stocks are not as low as expected, prices may stabilize as they are indeed too high now. A decrease in prices is not expected.

east-fruit.com

McCain Plans to Open French Fry Production Plant in Tula Region

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McCain is set to begin the construction of its first plant for the production of French fries in the Russian Federation. In June McCain Foods Holland B.V. & McCain Europa BV established McCain Foods Rus LLC in the city of Uzlovaya, Tula Region, whose activities include the production of finished products and dishes, and the processing of potatoes.

A source in the market confirmed that McCain working on a project of a plant for the production of French fries, which is supposed to be placed in the SEZ “Uzlovaya”. Among the conditions for investors are zero import duty and VAT rate until 2065, and the first ten years, the income tax rate is 2%. In the European office McCain prompt comment was not provided. The Development Corporation of the Tula region said that they could not yet disclose information about the project.

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Egyptian Potatoes Readmitted to Russian Market

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From 6 June 2018, Egypt is again allowed to supply potatoes to Russia from eight regions. A ban had been introduced due to cases of brown rot, as reported by the official Egyptian news agency MENA, citing the words of the Minister of Industry and Trade of Egypt, Tarek Kabila.

“The Russian authorities have agreed to lift the ban on the import of Egyptian potatoes from eight regions; imports from these areas are allowed again from 6 June,” T. Kabil said.

He explained that such a decision became possible following the negotiations of the Russian-Egyptian intergovernmental commission, which met in Moscow in late May. There were also a series of visits, and moreover, Egypt sent Russia the results of checks on Egyptian agricultural products, which confirmed their compliance with international standards.

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Russian McDonald’s to Start Using Home-Grown Potatoes

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French fries at McDonald’s restaurants across Russia will be made with Russian-grown potatoes from now on, because of U.S. sanctions that have hit the Russian ruble and led to trade restrictions.

McDonald’s restaurants in Russia have already been using Russian ingredients for most other menu items, but until now they had relied on frozen French fries from the Netherlands and Poland because Russian potatoes weren’t quite right.

Now McDonald’s is making the switch to home-grown potatoes to deal with ruble’s volatility caused by fluctuating oil prices and western sanctions. A plant south of Moscow using potatoes grown on local farms will supply frozen fries to 651 McDonald’s restaurant across Russia.

The factory has capacity to process more than 200,000 tons of potatoes per year, washing, cutting and freezing the vegetables.

The ruble has recovered some ground as the price of oil, a major source of revenue for Russia, has risen from a low in 2016. But western trade restrictions remain in place.

Russia’s response to western sanctions included a 2014 ban on a range of western food imports.

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Russian tycoon invests in apples and potatoes

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Russian electricity and farming tycoon Dmitry Arzhanov has told the Reuters Russia Investment Summit that he plans to invest in apple and potato production, a direct response to Moscow’s embargo on food imports from Europe, the US, Canada and Australia.

The ban, which was introduced in August 2014 in retaliation against EU sanctions that were imposed following the conflict in Ukraine, has apparently led to new opportunities for domestic producers, but few have been able to capitalise as prices rise for items including fresh produce sold in the Russian market.

Arzhanov’s company AFG National, which has traditionally concentrated on producing rice and grain, is now planning to establish 300ha of apple orchards by 2016.

In seven years time, Arzhanov reportedly told the summit, around 2,500 ha will be under cultivation, producing an estimated 125,000 tonnes.

That figure represents around 10 per cent of the volume of apples that were imported from Poland prior to the ban.

Elsewhere, AFG National is said to be lining up a US $600m investment package to create what Reuters referred to as “a vegetable complex” that can produce 500,000 tonnes of washed potatoes per annum – equating to a quarter of Russian market demand – within the next five years.

“Russia’s government, faced with economic sanctions and the worst crisis in its relations with the West since the Cold War, has pushed the concept of ‘import substitution’ – domestic firms stepping in to fill the gap left by imports,” the Reuters report continued.

“That has worked in some sectors, but food producers, for years sidelined by powerful foreign competitors, have struggled to increase production quickly, people in the industry say.”

Arzhanov, who also co-owns the retail electricity supplier TNS Energo Group, said his investments in both apples and potatoes would be safe regardless of whether or not the embargo was lifted in the near future.

He also predicted that an extended ban lasting for the next two years would result in a downturn in investment within the Polish apple industry.

www.fruitnet.com

Remarkable development of Egyptian exports to Russia

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Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour, Egyptian Minister of Trade and Industry, reported that the country’s agricultural exports have seen a remarkable development, especially potatoes, which registered a 144.8% increase, frozen vegetables, up 900%, machinery and appliances, up 681.3% and processed vegetables and fruit, with an 823.1% growth.

He pointed out in a press statement that this is mostly the result of the efforts made by the Ministry in helping Egyptian companies to access the Russian market, as well as to the promotional campaigns carried out by the Egyptian Commercial Office in Moscow for many Egyptian products, which facilitated the opening of communication channels with major Russian importers.

These campaigns resulted in the provision of more than 70 export opportunities, contributing to the shipment of new and non-traditional products (not only food products) to the Russian market.

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Temporary ban on Egyptian potato imports

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Russia’s Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) has imposed a temporary ban on the import of potatoes from Egypt.

The reason is the frequent violation of regulations in the field of plant quarantine. Russian phytosanitary services detected brown rot bacteria and golden cyst nematode in Egyptian potatoes. Since the introduction of the EU embargo on fruits and vegetables, the import of Egyptian potatoes by Russia exceeded 300 thousand tonnes.

 

Potato prices are 1.5 times higher

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Retail prices for potato are higher by almost 1.5 times in contrast with last year.

The retail price of fresh potatoes in Moscow stores and vegetable markets broke all records of last year. In mid-November, residents of the capital and its suburbs are buying potatoes for approximately 27-35 rubles per kilogram. Minimum prices are suggested by retail chains “Auchan”, “Dixie” and “Pyatyorochka”, where you can find native potatoes 18-22 rubles per kilogram. The quality and vendibility of vegetables in grocery discounters cannot be called even satisfactory.

High prices of potatoes this season arise from several factors: the rainy weather in the harvest season, a poor harvest national average, and imposed ban on imports for phytosanitary reasons.

Every year in Russia, according to the Agriculture Ministry of Russian Federation, it is grown about 30 million tons of potatoes, 25 million tons of which belong to private households and are not intended for sale. The remaining 5-5.5 million tons are not enough for the commodity turnover and industrial processing. According to the Federal Customs Service of Russian Federation, the country still imports about 400,000 tons of potatoes a year. The main importers for Russia are the producers of the Netherlands and Germany.

 

www.retail.ru

Domestic seeds will help lessen EU dependance

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Russia lives in vegetable dependence on Europe where all seeds are purchased. The Federal Service for Veterinarian and Vegetation Sanitary Supervision (Rosselkhoznadzor) repeatedly threatened the European Union with the ban on import of seed grains. In fact, it means digging its own grave. “Without seed potato coming from foreign countries we can pull through only for one year, then everything that involves vegetables will come to a halt,” Vitaly Dunin, the chairman of the Sverdlovsk Union of Producers and Processors of Potatoes and Vegetables, told RusBusinessNews.

According to Dunin, the domestic seed industry was destroyed in the 1990s-2000s and now is in the embryonic state. The Belorechensky Agro-Industrial Complex, CJSC, headed by Dunin, purchases high yielding potato hybrids from the Netherlands. The Dutch grow their seed potatoes in the most agriculturally favorable areas in Italy, Africa and Spain, sorting them by color, quality grade and size.

The Sverdlovsk Region is ready and willing to get out of the European bondage. The Belorechensky Agro-Industrial Complex, together with Kartofel, LLC, and the Agriculture Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Agriculture, prepared a business plan for the breeding center that will allow farmers to reduce their potato seed import by 50% or more. The cost of this center is 300 million rubles. The initiators of the project expect that the federal and regional government authorities will chip in together and allocate 100 million from each side. The Sredneuralsk government gave the go-ahead to the idea, which is now being scrutinized at the Russian Ministry of Agriculture. If everything works out, the breeding center will start operating in 2014.

Source: www.freshplaza.com