KWS Potato: Russian Import ban of European seed potatoes is just politics

At the beginning of this year Russia announced an import boycott of European seed potatoes. It was originally planned for the 1st of April, but it's now set to start on the 1st of June.

"At the moment the export is continuing. Certain Russian provinces are always supplied late. I do expect the Russian importers to do everything they can to get the seeding goods in before the 1st of June,"says director Ernst Arn of KWS Potato.

At this time it is unknown when the import ban will be lifted. "I don't know if the Russians even know,"says Ernst Arn.

"The problem is that this discussion isn't about potatoes or potato diseases, but has become a political discussion. It's difficult to guess how this will develop. When Holland supplies the information that the Russian need, the borders might open quickly, but they might remain closed for another year. At this point, no one can say for sure."

Russia is a big market for seeding goods, but KWS has the strategy of growing seeding goods locally for the Russian market with the subsidiary KWS RUS. "At the moment KWS RUS is still dependent of being able to import starting material, mainly from Holland, as we don't yet have our own local mini tuber production,"says Ernst. "I wouldn't set up a company based solely on the export of large amounts of seeding material to Russia. The Russian market is too risky for that."

The KWS director does say that the potato processing industry is investing heavily in Russia at the moment. "This provides opportunities for companies like us to generate a stable turnover in Russia. At the moment most of the Russian potato cultivation is hobby cultivation. There are professional growers, but they're only worth 10% of the total area. The demand for the various cooking varieties is very diverse in Russia. The various corners all want completely different varieties."

Source: FreshPlaza/KWS Potato