Seed potato suppliers say some of their customers intend to cut or, at best, stop potato production next year. The reason is obvious: wholesale prices for potatoes of the currently prevailing quality (low and medium) have already dropped to 2.7-2.8 lei / kg (0.15-0.16 $ / kg).

In early September, the prices for potatoes in Moldova fell to the lowest "autumn" level in the last three years. Moreover, since mid-summer, the country has the lowest potato prices in the region.

A similar situation was observed in the onion segment of the Moldovan fruit and vegetable market last year. As a result, according to expert estimates, onion sowing for the harvest of 2021 decreased by 30-40% - to about 1.5-2 thousand hectares.

The difference is that, according to experts from farmer organizations, many vegetable growers have reoriented themselves from growing onions to growing other vegetables - tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, etc.

However, potato growers, impressed by low demand and falling potato prices in September 2021, plan to completely phase out production in favor of grain next year. In the current harvest year, grain prices remain high - even wheat for feeding livestock on the Moldovan market is now more expensive than potatoes. Thus, in the near future, part of the sown area of ​​potatoes will be sown with winter grains.

Many experts agree that this is a possible, but far from the best production scenario. Some of them believe that both onions and potatoes in Moldova will sharply rise in price in late autumn - early winter, and this will almost certainly happen in the winter and spring of next year.

One of the main problems of growing potatoes in Moldova is the focus on growing raw rather than finished products. Therefore, the country's supermarkets are forced to import high-quality and clean potatoes from the EU and Ukraine, while local ones are not in demand. Producers cannot preserve, peel and pack potatoes in a quality manner to put them on supermarket shelves. This results in huge losses for everyone, both potato growers and consumers.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Moldova, in 2021, slightly more than 66 thousand hectares were allocated for vegetables, potatoes and melons in the country (96% of last year's figure). 22.2 thousand hectares (97%) are sown with potatoes, 37.5 thousand hectares (94%) - with open field vegetables and 6.2 thousand hectares (102%) - with melons.

east-fruit.com

As Best Agro Market noted earlier, the largest potato storage facility in Ukraine was created in the Kherson region