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Russian government acknowledges nearly 20% drop in potato harvest

By the end of 2024, the potato harvest in the country significantly declined, as admitted during a government meeting by the head of the Ministry of Agriculture, Oksana Lut. According to her, the harvesting campaign yielded about 7 million tons of potatoes. This is almost 20% lower than the previous year's harvests, which, according to estimates by the Potato Union (PU), reached 8.6 million tons.

The harvested potatoes, as Lut indicated, may not be sufficient to meet domestic consumption, which, according to PU estimates, is 8 million tons. To fill supermarket shelves with potatoes, the authorities plan to organize imports from abroad, said the head of the Ministry of Agriculture.

All key potato-producing regions have reported declines: Bryansk region harvested 500,000 tons less, Tula region - 150,000 tons less, Nizhny Novgorod region - 120,000 tons less, and Moscow region - 100,000 tons less. Additionally, there are problems with the supply of imported seeds, on which Russian vegetable producers are almost totally dependent — 95%, according to an expert.

"If in recent years we annually imported around 10000-12000 tons of seeds from the European Union, this season we imported 290 tons from Germany," he said. According to the expert, Russia faces a deficit of industrial potatoes this year, which are used to make chips and French fries.

According to Rosstat, potato prices are rapidly increasing in Russia. Since the beginning of the year, potato prices have soared by 55%, making it one of the most expensive food products.

Source: www.moscowtimes.ru

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