December 29 2017, 13:39 Fruit-Inform

Poland: potato supply likely to be limited despite higher production

This year Polish potato production has exceeded last year’s volumes. Moreover, Polish farmers harvested more potatoes than expected. Nevertheless, market experts expect the supply of domestic produce to be limited in spring, reports Fruit-Inform referring to FreshMarket.

According to the Central Statistical Office of Poland (GUS), in 2017 Poland produced 9.5 mln tons of potatoes, an increase of 7% against the previous year mainly thanks to expansion of the production area by 6%, as well as a slight growth in yields in some regions.

Meanwhile, it is worth mentioning that excessive rainfall prevented farmers from applying plant protection products in time in many regions, which resulted in spread of fungoid diseases and negative effect on quality of potatoes. Taking these factors into account, Polish potato stocks are predicted to be much lower than a year before. Moreover, market analysts expect quality of potatoes to be rapidly worsening during storage; therefore, Polish potato market participants will most likely face lack of supply of domestic produce in the second half of spring.