News on Potato Stats, Trade, Prices from Asia

Four months after farmers dumped potatoes on road in Mohali and other parts of the Indian state Punjab, seeking remunerative price for their potato crop, state government has allowed the staple food’s export to Russia and the Middle East.

According to a GAIN-report prepared by the USDA staff in Beijing, China’s fresh potato production in marketing year 2017-2018 is forecast at 97 million metric tons, a five percent increase from the estimated 92 million metric tons in the previous year.

Potatoes USA reports that the South Korean government has reopened its market for table-stock potatoes from the Pacific Northwest states of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.

Potato farmers in the Indian state Punjab are headed for another season of dwindling profits because the cold storage facilities are still flooded with old crop - and several other states are in a similar situation.

Bamyan, the largest potato producing province in Afghanistan, produced 350,000 tons this year, an increase of 15 percent compared to last year.

The National Potato Council applauds the United States Trade Representative’s victory in the World Trade Organization (WTO) case against Indonesia’s restrictive import licensing scheme.

The Jordan Ministry of Agriculture on Sunday said that a shipment at the Aqaba Port, Jordan, carrying 10,000 tonnes of potatoes allegedly infested with potato cyst nematodes, will not be allowed into the country.

Potatoes USA has distributed chip-stock potatoes to four local potato chip manufacturers in Myanmar to conduct product trials.

Georgia is reducing its dependency on potato imports as this year local farmers harvested enough to meet the needs of the local market.

In India, the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) is starting the production of frozen French Fries in October of this year. They have set up shop in North Gujarat, close to McCain Foods India and Hyfun Frozen Foods

Pakistan has reduced the import of potato seeds by 50 per cent as a result of strong public-private partnership in locally-certified potato production through planning and technical assistance.

Cold storage operators in Bangladesh said between 15 and 20 lakh (2 million) tonnes of potato will remain unsold by the end of the year because of sluggish demand.

Last Wednesday in Delhi, potato farmers from Uttar Pradesh handed out free potatoes to the public in protest against the steeply falling prices of the vegetable in Agra.

With their product rotting, potato growers in Indian East Punjab are suffering huge losses and Jalandhar Potato Growers Association (JPGA) has demanded urgent export of potatoes to Pakistan and availability of express rail rakes for transporting their produce to southern states.

Japan's potato chip shortage is rapidly developing into a crisis, with consumers rushing to stock up on what little is left in supermarkets and manufacturers struggling to find fresh supplies.

Cypriot potatoes becoming increasingly popular in Europe

The potato production in India is estimated to be around 47 million tonnes for this crop year, just behind the all-time high witnessed in 2014.

The office for Inspection and Quarantine in Jining city (Shandong province, China), recently handled papers regarding the import of seed potatoes from the United States, one of the very first introductions of US seed potatoes into China in recent years.