With national elections scheduled for January 7, 2024, the Bangladesh government has implemented measures to address the alarming surge in potato prices.

Bangladesh Commerce Ministry, in a report, says high prices are the result of price manipulation by a syndicate of cold-storage owners.

The first-ever shipments of 77 tonnes of potatoes have arrived from India for domestic consumption in Bangladesh - traditionally an exporter of the root vegetable - amid government efforts to ease the price.

Potato prices in Bangladesh are soaring even though farmers this year grew a record 1.04 crore tonnes, cutting the buying power of consumers, especially fixed and low-income people already battered by sustained high inflation.

Frequent power outages in Bangladesh are driving up the costs of potato storage, ultimately burdening people already struggling with escalating prices of essential food items.

A Japanese company has expressed interest to import potatoes from Bangladesh, said Agriculture Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque. The minister said this while addressing a program at Westin Hotel in Tokyo on Thursday (April 27).

State-run Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation and private entity National Group Russia for Potato Export are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding today over the export of potato from Bangladesh to Russia.

The annual demand for potatoes in Bangladesh is about 9 million tons. The Bangladesh Cold Storage Association (BCSA) urged the government to provide a BDT 9 (USD 0.11) subsidy per kilogram of potato stored in various cold storages in the country.

Facing excess potatoes, the government of Bangladesh has decided to provide all sorts of support for both export and processing

Potatoes produced by contract growers of the Bangladesh Agricultural Corporation (BADC) are now being exported to Malaysia.