July 4 2007, 16:17

Ukraine: potato prices are 1.5 times as high than a year ago

According to the data of the wholesale price monitoring, regularly conducted by ""Agrooglyad: Vegetables and Fruits" weekly" on the territory of Ukraine, the prices for early potato are higher in average 50-60% than at the same period of time in 2006.

To the opinion of the experts of the periodical, this circumstance is preconditioned by at once several factors. On one hand, the prices for early potato can be explained by low yield in the farms of Zakarpattya. Early potato suffered from spring frosts there, and, by the end of June severe hail have practically fully killed harvest in many farms of Uzhgorod district. On the other hand, because of draught the harvest of early potato has also noticeably declined in the farms of southern regions.

The wholesale buyers of most part of the regions of Ukraine actively purchase potato for $0.4-0.46/kg; there is no problem to sell produce to supermarket chains for $0.6-0.7/kg. The prices for early potato are kept on the level $1-1.1/kg in the retail trade. The managers of supermarkets point out the steady high demand for this produce despite of high price.