Jordan's Ministry of Agriculture has denied speculation about the massive import of Israeli potatoes, stating that the product arrives from various different origins, such as France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Palestine, Lebanon and Egypt.
The Ministry spokesperson, Dr Nimer Haddadin, said in a statement that the volume of potatoes imported from Israel is very small, adding that the Ministry granted import licenses to a limited number of traders for the import of small volumes of Israeli potatoes for a limited period of time.
For his part, Mahmoud Kotail, of the Association of Traders and Exporters of Fruits and Vegetables, said that the volume of Israeli potatoes that goes to the central market ranges between 10 and 15 tonnes per day for ten days, and their popularity is not very high; meanwhile, the market receives on a daily basis between 120-150 tonnes of domestic potatoes, 100 tonnes from growers in Palestine and Gaza, 50-75 tonnes from Lebanon and another 50 tonnes from Egypt, adding that Jordan has sufficient potatoes to cover the needs of the domestic market until the end of September.
