The price of locally-grown potatoes in the wholesale markets of Crimea has increased by almost 1.5 times, according to the project "APK-Inform: Vegetables and Fruits", citing data from its daily monitoring.
According to the project, at the market "Crimean Privoz", in Simferopol, potatoes from farms in the peninsula are available for 20 to 30 Rouble/kilo (0.27-0.41 $/kilo) depending on the variety and quality. For comparison, prices in Simferopol at the end of the previous week did not exceed 20 Rouble/kilo (0.27 $/kilo).
Market players say that the rapid increase in prices has been caused by the very high demand for potatoes from local wholesale companies, fuelled in part by rumours of a shortage of high-quality potatoes in the current season.
Another reason is the more expensive prices of the production from farms in the southern regions of Ukraine, which are traditionally the main competitors of local products. At the market "Crimean Privoz" Ukrainian potatoes are sold for 17-22 Rouble/kilo (0.23-0.30 $/kilo), which is on average 32% higher than the previous week.
It is worth noting that, at the moment, the wholesale price of local and Ukrainian potatoes in Crimea is, on average, 2.5 times higher than in mid-September 2014; however, many market players predict a weakening of the trading activity in this segment in the near future.
