Potato News from Asia

Strategic partners Tolsma-Grisnich and Kiremko recently supplied a turnkey project at Ningxia Yujing Food Co. in China. The project existed out of a complete French fries and hash brown production line including potato storage and grading system.

PepsiCo, Inc. and Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines Inc. (PCPPI) the company's beverage bottling partner in the Philippines, have announced an agreement for PCPPI to also manufacture one of PepsiCo' s world-famous snacks brands locally in the Philippines.

During the upcoming World Potato Congress in China, Mr. Percy Wachata Misika, a UN-FAO official, will address global food and agricultural issues in one of the keynote speeches

Speculation has arisen that Turkey may soon begin to purchase cheaper potatoes from its neighbor Iran.

Walmart’s global president and CEO, Doug McMillon reiterated Walmart’s commitment to growing its business in China, committing to build 115 new stores by 2017 and upgrade 50 stores this year.

McDonald's French Fry supplier in Beijing - Beijing Simplot Food Processing Co. Ltd - has been fined a record 3.9 million yuan (about 655,000 USD) for discharging waste water that exceeded the maximum allowed COD value.

Sri Lanka's Ministry of Finance announced April 25, 2015 that the import taxes on big onions and potatoes have been increased with immediate effect.

Ishida will underline its market leadership in snacks packing solutions at Snackex Istanbul, showcasing a packing system for salt sticks and the iTPS™, the world’s only fully integrated weigher and bagmaker system from a single manufacturer

South Korea could help provide Australian potato growers with some relief from domestic cost pressures via a potentially lucrative growth market for exports.

After several years of negotiations, Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (MAFF) has agreed to allow US chipping potatoes to be transported overland from an international port to an approved processing facility in Kagoshima.

Japanese snack maker Calbee will build a factory in South Korea to meet the soaring consumer appetite for its potato chips in that country.

Russia threatens to impose temporary restrictions on import of Indian potatoes.based on phytosanitary concerns (brown rot agent)

TOMRA Sorting Food has launched a Japanese website, underlining the importance of Japan to the company’s global business strategy.

India's potato exports jumped more than two-fold during April-December period of this fiscal to 2.5 lakh tonnes.

DSM Nutritional Products has opened a Nutrition Innovation Center for Asia Pacific as part of DSM’s new S$8.8 million premises at Mapletree Business City, further strengthening Singapore’s thriving nutrition science and technology ecosystem.

Farmers in the North Lebanon town of Hissa protested Thursday potato imports they said would devastate their sales, state media reported.

As growth slows down and intense competition emerges from regional brands in potato chips, PepsiCo and ITC are shifting their focus more towards newer and healthier forms of packaged snacks, the market for which is growing at twice the speed.

Even though the ban by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on sale of potatoes to other states over the past three years has been lifted, cases of farmer suicides, which some say may have been driven by the fear of heavy losses, are still being reported.