REUTERS
In previous lean years, the need for potato imports was observed in Ukraine late in spring – early summer.
The Ukrainian-based wholesale market of agricultural produce Shuvar says Ukraine in August 2019 imported 4,300 tonnes of potatoes worth US$795,000, the highest on records, making up the annual volume of potato imports into Ukraine.
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"This figure is an absolute record for August over Ukraine's independence. In fact, the country imported the annual volume of potato within just one month," Shuvar's press service said on September 18.
According to head of the Shuvar Analytics Department Tetiana Hetman, Ukraine had fairly good potato harvests in the two previous seasons, when the annual demand for potato imports was limited to 3,000-5,000 tonnes. At the same time, in seasons with poor harvests, the need for imports stood at 15,000-18,000 tonnes, but even in such years Ukraine never imported potatoes in August.
"August and September is the period of the largest supply of domestic potatoes. This year, due to the bad weather, late varieties of potatoes entered the market several weeks later. The situation was used by importers from Belarus, where [potato] prices in August were much lower," the expert said.
According to the State Statistics Service, in previous lean years, the need for potato imports was observed in Ukraine late in spring – early summer.
As UNIAN reported earlier, purchase prices of potatoes in Ukraine almost doubled in August 2019 year-over-year, to about UAH 11 (US$0.46) per kg, due to poor yields of the crop.
Prices of vegetables from Ukraine's borsch kit almost doubled in 2018, to UAH 56.6 (US$2.29). In total, Ukraine harvested 9.4 million tonnes of vegetables in 2018.