Information for fruit and vegetables business in CIS
Potato production in Ukraine will not sensibly change
Data of the renewed in August fruit and vegetable production and prices forecast, included into the fundamental study a href=http://www.lol.org.ua/eng/research6.php>“Fruit & Vegetable Market of Ukraine 2010” , show that potato production in Ukraine will be significantly down to what was expected earlier. At the same time, potato production volumes will not sensibly change from production volumes in 2009, when 19,7 mln tonnes were harvested.
Recently, there was an information, appeared in different mass-media, which stated of potato production in Ukraine to be down by 30% to 14 mln tonnes. In course of preparation of the study, specialists of the project a href=http://www.lol.org.ua/eng/>"Fruit-inform.com" interviewed all leading potato producers in all production regions in Ukraine and gathered information of potato harvest prospects in small farms. Received as a result of the study data deny rumours of sharp decrease of potato production.
“It's not a secret that in 2010 areas under potato increased sharply in small farms and professional producers. And there were several times more high-quality potato seeds sold”, - head of the project a href=http://www.lol.org.ua/eng/>"Fruit-inform.com" , Andrey Yarmak, says. “And only the most extreme weather conditions did not allow to harvest more than in 2009, notwithstanding the fact of increase in potato production in some major production regions. Totally, potato production in Ukraine is predicted at 19,2-19,5 mln tonnes, that is by 1-2% less than in 2009, and about 1% less than an average result of the last 5 years”, - the expert adds.
At the same time, results of the study show the quality of potato to be worse than in 2009. This fact will certainly affect its viability. Though putting into operation of a whole number of large and modern potato warehouses may be considered as a positive factor, as this will allow to store more produce for a longer period of time and significantly bring down losses.
Prices for potato at the domestic market will be affected not so much by factor of its domestic production, as by potato shortage in Russia, where conditions were even less favourable than in Ukraine. Besides this, prices for potato in Ukraine are supported by comparatively high prices for other vegetable and rumours of sharp decrease of potato production, unconfirmed by serious studies.
Detailed information about present situation and prospects of development of potato business in Ukraine and Russia is available in the new study a href=http://www.lol.org.ua/eng/research5.php>“Potato business of Russia and Ukraine-2010. Present situation and prospects of development”.