After a dreadful season in 2019-2020, the Egyptian potato production has decreased by about 15% this year. The increase in costs of farming on top of the lower production mean that the potatoes are already more expensive at the farm. Still, potato farmers hope for the best this season.
The Egyptian potato season had a very rough 2019-2020 season, says Abdullah Tharwat, business development manager for Pyramids for Agricultural Investment: “When it comes to the potato season for this year, we must first mention the difficulties and losses that farmers faced during the 2019-2020 season. The previous year harmed farmers, as the cost of cultivation averaged 3.5 Egyptian pounds, and the market selling price ranged between 1.5 and 1.5 per kilo, which led to losses of up to 70% of the cost of agriculture. Potatoes are considered one of the main crops in Egypt, and Egypt relies heavily on its export and its domestic consumption.”
With the previous season in mind, production slowed down for the Egyptian potatoes, Tharwat explains. “For the 2020-2021 crop, productivity is expected to be 15% lower than last year, reaching 350,000 tons. The summer crop is the highest and depends on seeds in the winter season. The export season for the 2020-2021 crop started two weeks earlier than usual to Russia as there is a surge in demand right now. The average price here in the farms varies from .32 $ - .45 $ and it’s not the usual prices that people used to deal with, but that’s due to the increase in the cost of farming and lowering the quantities due to the big loss of the previous season.”
“The consumption per capital of potatoes in Egypt averages 33 kilo yearly, which in Europe varies from 88-250 kilo on a yearly basis,” Tharwat explains. “In Egypt there are Summer Autumn and Winter crops of potatoes and a different range of varieties, for example for ‘Table potatoes’ we have Spunta –Annabelle - Mondial –Astrix, which are available from January till June. Then there’s the ‘processing potatoes’ such as Lady Rosetta and Hermes. These are available fresh from January till June and stored from July to November.”
Russia has been a very important market for the Egyptian potatoes and there is good demand right now, which helps with the heavily increased costs for cultivation of potatoes. “The most important markets for Egyptian potatoes are without a doubt Russia and Greece. Egypt is the largest country that imports potatoes seeds, it imports from 110-140K tons with an average of 1 Billion EGP, the price of the seeds for the winter crop was around 500$, which is a doubled price compared to the previous season. Seeds for the summer crop was around 1050$. All these challenges and the economic situation had a high impact on the agriculture sector, so we hope for the best this potato season.” Tharwat concludes.
For more information:
Abdullah Tharwat
Pyramids Agricultural Investment Co.
Cell no. +201005027256
Tel./Fax:0020452633420
[email protected]
www.pyramids-agriculture.com