Russian potato crisis driven by rising imports

The Russian potato organization is taking steps to offer growers in the country a guaranteed price for their product. Russia is being flooded with cheap imported potatoes, which means the domestic supply is not being used. The Russian potato organization has sent a letter to the federal antimonopoly watchdog FAS to offer potato growers a guaranteed fixed price. This should amount to 30 rubles per kilo for unwashed potatoes and 60 rubles for washed product. Converted, 0.32 and 0.63 eurocent. Cheap imports Cheap imported potatoes, mainly from Egypt, but also Israel and China, mean that growers are having a hard time selling their potatoes. Supermarket chains then prefer imports of early potatoes over the sale of their own old Russian harvest. If it is up to the growers' organization, retail will be required to purchase at least 80% through fixed contracts. The sector is thus swinging from one extreme to the other. Due to a smaller domestic harvest and quality problems, a potato shortage emerged at the beginning of last year, resulting in sharply rising prices. The war in Ukraine also has consequences, because no product is imported from the country anymore. Belarus had to fill that gap, but only managed to do so to a limited extent. Larger harvest Other countries, with which Russia can still do business, were happy to fill that gap. In total, 940,000 tonnes of potatoes were imported during 2025. This is a thorn in the side of Russian growers, who had a better harvest last autumn. According to figures from the potato growers' organization, 7.46 million tonnes were harvested, compared with 7.37 million tonnes a year earlier. This only concerns professional cultivation and therefore not potatoes that people grow in their backyards. The acreage in Russia has been declining steadily for years, but this is offset by increasingly higher yields per hectare. The proposal for a guaranteed price is now with the Russian Ministry of Agriculture and Economic Affairs.