08/07/22 17:35
08/07/22 17:49
I don’t care, I’m never going to eat fries in Russia. And especially not in mac dos.
I’ve never gone further than Vitry le François.
Hey, the grandpa, …. I have the impression that you don’t really appreciate the sabir across the Atlantic, you either?
Am I wrong?
” “ It’s still surprising, we are able to grow potatoes in Russia. » »
Yes, but they use it to make vodka. And they don’t have sunflower oil for the fries.
07/08/22 17:54
The explanations for the shortage and the potato suppliers…
Potato imports increase by 73% in 2021: They are linked to the poor harvest of Russia
| Agroinvestor | Elizabeth Litvinova | February 24, 2022
Russia imported 546,000 tons of potatoes last year, an increase of 72.7% compared to 2020, while imports increased by 5.1% compared to 2019. At the same time, imports of other “borsch set” vegetables decreased last year: onions – by 26% (214 thousand tons), cabbage – by 20% (83 thousand tons), Rosstat said, citing data from the Federal Service for customs (SFC). The increase in potato imports was expected: it is linked to a low harvest in Russia due to climatic conditions, said Mikhail Glushkov, director of the Fruit and Vegetable Union. According to him, the high volume of imports is expected to continue this year due to the relatively poor harvests as well.
“The Russian stock of potatoes, taking into account processing and seeds in Russia, according to our estimates, is 15-20 million tons per year, respectively, imports of 546 thousand tons do not play a big role on the market,” says Alexey Krasilnikov, executive director of the Potato Union. According to him, this year imports could increase to 700-800 thousand tons due to the lack of domestic potatoes from last year’s harvest.
“However, these forecasts are a thankless task. For example, in some years chain stores have actively signed contracts for imported potatoes (they had better work with them, because they can make a good margin), and to guarantee the sales of purchased foreign potatoes, they closed “exchange cards” for the purchase of domestic potatoes. That is, they acted to the detriment of our agricultural producer, and we think this is wrong business policy,” Krasilnikov told Agroinvest.
This year, the first shipments of potatoes from Egypt began to be imported at the end of January, although, judging by the practice of recent years, the massive shipments take place in April-May, he said. -He specifies. According to Krasilnikov, Russia is an interesting market for the country: about half of all potatoes produced in Egypt are sent to Russia. “Until today, prices for potatoes from Egypt have gone down and are currently around 50 rubles/kg at wholesalers,” he adds. Egypt has significantly increased its potato plantings this season, and part of that could likely be due to expectations of increased demand from Russia, says Krasilnikov.
For 15 years, Russia has produced more potatoes than it imports, and imports replace insufficient domestic production in the spring, before the new harvest, explains Tamara Reshetnikova, managing director of Growth Technologies. Last year’s increase in imports was due to poor harvests due to weather conditions, she adds. “Imports may increase due to bad harvests or a lack of storage capacity. We have a storage problem, which is why we buy between 200,000 and 600,000 tonnes of potatoes every year from countries that harvest in winter. For example, from Egypt, where potatoes are harvested twice a year and there is no need for storage capacity,” she said.
Reducing dependence on imports requires building modern, year-round storage facilities, Reshetnikova said, but this will require significant investment. “Most potatoes (about 50%, depending on the region the share may be higher) in Russia are grown on family farms, but households do not and cannot have suitable storage facilities”, she notes. Thus, if the country had mass marketable potato production, there would be no problem of storage and hence high imports.
Although the share of imported potatoes in consumption is not so high, according to Krasilnikov, foreign selection accounts for about 70% of planting material. Rosselkhoznadzor is now considering the delivery of seed potatoes from the European Union at the request of Russian growers, as domestic production is still insufficient, he said. In particular, processors (producers of fries, crisps, etc.) are totally dependent on foreign breeding, says Mr. Krasilnikov. “But while in previous years we imported 5 to 10 thousand tons, in the 2021 season, according to the customs service, the import of planting material was around 14 thousand tons,” he adds. . This year, it will provisionally be around 15,000 tonnes, including for the needs of the new potato processing facilities.
“About 850,000 tons of seed are planted each year in the commodity sector and, on such a scale, imports of 10,000 to 15,000 tons are lost. At the same time, it must be recognized that foreign breeding, already localized in Russia, usually accounts for about 70% of planting material. To reduce dependence on foreign supplies, Russia has established a sub-program called “Development of apple seed breeding and production of land” until 2030, but it is still at an intermediate stage of implementation. During its operation, more than 30 new varieties have been registered since 2018, and now it is necessary to assess their advantages against to ‘Western’ breeding and to make efforts to popularize them and introduce them into mass use,” says Krasilnikov. Mr. Glushkov also notes that about 70% of seed potatoes are imported, but thanks to the sub-program, the availability of domestic material is expected to increase. At the same time, dependence on seeds for vegetables is still high, he concludes.
07/09/22 09:43