News on Potato Trade from Asia

Potato harvest has begun in Aksaray, one of Turkey's top 10 provinces for potato production, where 80 percent of the population earns a living from agriculture and animal husbandry. Aksaray ranks first in many areas of animal husbandry in the country.

In 2024, India's processing potato market saw significant price fluctuations, rising from INR 8/kg (USD 0.10/kg) in January to over INR 25/kg (USD 0.30/kg) due to varying demand and weather impacts, with expectations for stabilization in the coming months.

With domestic production down by 1.2 million tons, potato imports have become crucial as political unrest, a government change, and severe flooding further strain the situation.

Faced with soaring potato prices, India secures a steady supply for three years by extending license-free imports from Bhutan.

M S International - a major exporter of potatoes for processing - has received the prestigious FIEO (WR) Export Excellence Award in the Emerging Exporter (MSME) category for the year 2020-2021.

High input cost and unfavorable weather hit potato output in Bangladesh, with late blight causing added damage.

After Cyclone Michaung, heavy rains caused crop damage, leading to a decrease in supply and subsequent price spikes. Potato prices may remain high until the affected areas recover their potato production capacity.

With national elections scheduled for January 7, 2024, the Bangladesh government has implemented measures to address the alarming surge in potato prices.

Bangladesh Commerce Ministry, in a report, says high prices are the result of price manipulation by a syndicate of cold-storage owners.

Following a satisfactory experience with exporting potatoes to the United Arab Emirates in recent weeks, several other Gulf states are now lining up to buy the starchy vegetable produced from the farms of the Kurdistan Region

The export of early potatoes is not such a significant position in Uzbekistan’s fresh fruits and vegetables segment. However, the volume of deliveries of Uzbek potatoes to Kazakhstan in May-July this year reached a record high for at least the last two decades.

Frequent power outages in Bangladesh are driving up the costs of potato storage, ultimately burdening people already struggling with escalating prices of essential food items.

In 2023, a sharp increase in potato production is expected in Turkey, which is among the top 15 world’s largest exporters of the crop, according to Eastfruit Analysts.

State-run Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation and private entity National Group Russia for Potato Export are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding today over the export of potato from Bangladesh to Russia.

EastFruit analysts have repeatedly paid attention to the grave consequences of abnormally cold weather in Uzbekistan in January.

In 2022, the volume of imports of marketable potatoes to Uzbekistan decreased for the first time in the past few years.

China is a potentially big market for Pakistani potato, because the price of potato in China is higher, especially from January to April every year.

Export data show that from January to September 2022, India exported about 153,000 tons of fresh or refrigerated potatoes suitable for the production of potato chips, an increase of 42% compared to last year.