Potato News from Asia

Potato planting season is in full swing in the Bekaa farmlands and Elie Samaha must rush off to his tractor where two women are seated on a low-hanging platform, waiting for the machine to grind into action so they can toss seeds into its path.

Friday’s massive earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan had minimal impact on Calbee Inc., the Japanese snack food manufacturer and its American partners, including RDO-Calbee Foods of Boardman.

The Israeli Biotech company Rosetta Green Ltd. recently listed at the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE:RSTG), demonstrated improved tolerance and survival of RGN-131 potato plants to drought stress.

ccording to Pakistani exporters, 200,000 tons of potatoes were expected to be exported to Russia during the current season

On February 11, 2011, the first shipment of U.S. chipping potatoes from Washington State arrived in Japan.

A controversy on field trials/multiplication of GM potato at the Central Potato Research Station (CPRS), Jalandhar, has started with activists, farmers unions and medical experts demanding from the Punjab government for immediate ban on these.

Showers accompanied with hail in some areas lashed Agra district (Uttar Pradesh, India) early Saturday morning, leaving farmers in this potato belt worried for the crop as it could be affected with diseases and yield poor quality.

Twenty catering companies in the Philippines were recently able to learn how to improve profitability by saving time and money with high quality US dehy.

Potato prices in Bangladesh have plunged to a four-year low both at retail and grower levels due to an increased supply.

Potato production in Uttar Pradesh, the leading potato growing state in India, has been hit by an erratic winter this year.

Sri Lanka Minister of Cooperatives and Internal Trade Johnston Fernando says that the local potato farmers will be guaranteed a reasonable price for their product.

Pakistan’s potato exports are lagging behind compared to regional competitors, as a result of poor logistics in the country, exporters say.

China Essence Group Ltd. ('China Essence'or the 'Group'), one of the largest, leading integrated producers of potato starch products in the People’s Republic of China ('PRC'), today announced its financial results for the third quarter ('3Q FY2011') and nine months ('9M FY2011') ended 31 December 2010.

The National Potato Council (NPC) and the United States Potato Board (USPB) are pleased to announce the Government of Thailand has approved the states of Colorado, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, Wisconsin and Wyoming to ship seed potatoes to Thailand.

A clutch of Punjab-based potato farmers are in the final stages of signing a deal with Russian traders for exporting close to 10,000 tonnes of the crop to Russia for the first time.

US Snack foods manufacturer Dirty Potato is all set to enter the Indian market.

Japanese snack food maker Calbee Inc aims to list on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in March to raise funds to help it expand overseas, the Nikkei business daily reported on Tuesday.