News on Potato Trade from India

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.

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.

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.

Potato production in the current crop year is estimated to be 53.60 mt, down from 56.17 mt last year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture's first estimate of horticulture production.

With retail potato prices rising sharply over April and May, the government of India has decided to permit the import of Potatoes from Bhutan without any license up to June 30, 2022.

Predicting a bumper harvest of potato this season, the West Bengal Cabinet on Monday decided to allow cold storage owners to purchase at least 10 lakh (1 Million) metric tons of tuber from farmers at a fixed price, so that they do not have to suffer losses, a senior official said.

Snacks and beverages manufacturer PepsiCo plans to invest $5 million by 2020 to expand its sustainable farming programme in India.

In an effort to limit the spread of the Potato Cyst Nematode, the government of India has prohibited the movement of seed potatoes from Himachal, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and Jammu Kashmir to other states

Higher potato prices are reported in various states of India (Punjab, West-Bengal), offering relief (Punjab) or even a windfall (West-Bengal) for farmers.

Four months after farmers dumped potatoes on road in Mohali and other parts of the Indian state Punjab, seeking remunerative price for their potato crop, state government has allowed the staple food’s export to Russia and the Middle East.

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.

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

Aiming to boost potato exports, the Indian government is considering identifying ‘pest-free zones’ for the staple in production clusters of the growing states like Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

India's potato exports jumped more than two-fold during April-December period of this fiscal to 2.5 lakh tonnes.

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.

Indian Potato chip, fries and flake manufacturers have urged the government to waive the 30% import duty on potato to improve supplies and check soaring prices at home.

Farmers and cold storage owners in India (Agra, UP) have lauded the decision to lift the ban on import of seed potatoes.