News on Potato Prices from India

With their product rotting, potato growers in Indian East Punjab are suffering huge losses and Jalandhar Potato Growers Association (JPGA) has demanded urgent export of potatoes to Pakistan and availability of express rail rakes for transporting their produce to southern states.

The government of India Tuesday removed the minimum export price (MEP) of potato, which was imposed in July, to boost shipments of the kitchen staple.

Despite a fresh crop arriving at the wholesale market in Vashi (Mumbai area), retail prices of potatoes show no decline

The government of India today imposed minimum export price (MEP) of USD 360 per tonne on potato to increase domestic availability and cool prices.

Potato farmers in Gujarat are a happy lot this year, as they are getting better prices for their produce despite 15% increase in potato production.

In the Indian State of Assam ten onion- and potato retailers have been arrested because they charged a price for their vegetables above the legal limit.

Even though the ban by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on sale of potatoes to other states over the past three years has been lifted, cases of farmer suicides, which some say may have been driven by the fear of heavy losses, are still being reported.

The Government of India has stepped up taking measures, well in advance, to avoid any situation of abnormal increase prices of onion and potato.

A bumper crop, coupled with weak demand from other States, has led to a free-fall in potatoes prices in West Bengal.

The Indian government has decided to remove the minimum export price of potato as its availability has increased and prices have eased in domestic markets.

Domestic potato production in India in the present Rabi season is likely to be 25-30 per cent higher over last year on account of good weather conditions.

After earning high profits last year, potato growers in India are selling the crop at a small margin this year.

Potato supply from West Bengal was disrupted again with the authorities of the neighbouring state re-imposing transport restrictions from today (August 24, 2014), a week after Trinamool Congress (TMC) government there relaxed movement of this vegetable variety to Odisha.

To prevent rising prices of potato in the state, the West Bengal government has decided to continue a ban on its transportation to other states and abroad until normal situation was restored.

Potato prices are rising in North India due to a lack of supply

The Narendra Modi government (India) on Tuesday decided to bring onions and potatoes under the Essential Commodities Act (ECA) to curb black marketing and hoarding, blamed for recent surge in prices. This will empower states to impose caps on stocks of these two vegetables for traders.

Fries, chips and flakes manufacturers in India are concerned over firm prices of potato, which has seen a jump owing to poor crop this year. Companies assure that an increase in retail price was unlikely to take place in the short run.

The price of potato in some markets in India has jumped 25 per cent in the past four days, due to reports of massive damage of the harvested crop from inclement weather.