OREANDA-NEWS By the end of July, agricultural organizations in Russia shipped 123.5 thousand tons of potatoes, which is 22.3 percent less than a year earlier. Kommersant writes about this with reference to Rosstat data.

The head of the Potato Union, Tatiana Gubina, pointed out that this is only the first month, and the harvest season ends at the end of October. She called the current state of planting good, suggesting that the final fees will be noticeably higher than a year earlier.

The current dynamics is observed against the background of a decrease in acreage by 2.3 percent in annual terms, to 986,000 hectares. If the negative trend continues, then 2025 will be the second consecutive problematic year for the Russian potato market.

The Ministry of Agriculture claims that as of August 19, more than 630,000 tons of potatoes have been harvested, and the harvesting rate is at last year's level. At that time, crop yields fell by 11.9 percent, while acreage decreased by 6.1 percent, which led to a record price increase. By the end of summer, due to the new harvest, the situation returned to normal.

However, market participants note that price stability has been achieved through active imports. In January-July, Russia purchased 857,000 tons of potatoes abroad, compared with only 440,000 last year.

According to Gubina, the increase in imports reduces farmers' interest in culture. They are constantly faced with rising costs due to the lack of long-term contracts with retailers that could guarantee some level of profitability. At the same time, the source pointed out that retail chains often prefer imported potatoes because of the larger tubers, which additionally affects the interests of Russian farmers and their incomes.

Earlier it became known that, against the background of budget problems, government support for potato and vegetable producers has been reduced by 13 percent, to 3.7 billion rubles.