According to the Uzbek Ministry of Agriculture, only 1.8 million tons of product will be needed to meet the domestic needs the nation.
“One of the main reasons for the current shortage of potatoes in our markets is due to the fact that citizens are unduly worried, and therefore, over and above their needs, they buy this product excessively. This leads to a natural shortage of potatoes delivered daily to our markets,” the ministry said.
Starting in the last ten days of March, the southern regions of the country began to export early potato products to our domestic markets. From April 15, a large number of potatoes will arrive on our domestic markets, including about 70 thousand tons in April and 85 thousand tons in May.
“The shortage of potatoes in the amount of 45-50 thousand tons mainly occurs in March-April. During this period, domestic consumption is met by stocks and imports from abroad. For the winter-spring season of 2019-2020, 181 thousand tons of potatoes were stocked, to date, 133 thousand tons have been sold. On average, 1800 tons of potatoes are produced daily from warehouses. This is an average of 40 percent of daily consumer demand - 4,5 thousand tons,” the ministry told reporters from en.potatosystem.ru.
In addition, in January-March 2020, 130 thousand tons of potato products were imported from abroad from Russia, Kazakhstan, Pakistan and Belarus, including more than 60 thousand tons in March. Import will continue until the mass cultivation of potatoes has begun in Uzbekistan.