News on Potato Stats, Trade, Prices

In Mexico, Filiberto Cadena Payan, representative in Sinaloa of the Potato Product System, said that it was important for the state's producers to reduce their crop area to the 11,000 hectares allocated to this crop this year in order to continue obtaining the best possible results in the marketing of the potato crop.

USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is changing the name of the Fruit and Vegetable Program to the Specialty Crops Program effective immediately. Because of the expansion of products covered, the program name is being changed to be more inclusive.

Armenian potato growers are able to export up to 10 thousand metric tons of seed potatoes to Russia, Hrachya Berberyan, head of the Agrarian and Peasant Union said recently.

In the Indian State of Assam ten onion- and potato retailers have been arrested because they charged a price for their vegetables above the legal limit.

The North-western European Potato Growers (NEPG) expect the total potato production (excluding seed and starch potatoes) of this year' s harvest to amount to 24.5 million tonnes. This is 14.1 percent below the potato production last year and 2.9 percent below the 5-year average.

The extreme weather in Switzerland will affect the upcoming potato harvest. Tubers are small, so the supply is expected to be tight.

Potato production in Kurdistan has seen a 13-fold increase over the last 7 years and is well above domestic demand, allowing export of the surplus. Nevertheless, potatoes have to be imported later in the season, since local potato storage capacity is lacking.

In the annual VTA sampling of the development of the Dutch potato crop development, mid August a yield was found 16% lower than last year and 7.1 below the 5 year average.

In January-July 2015 Belarus increased potato export by more than 3.1 times, BelTA learned from Belarusian Agriculture and Food Minister Leonid Zayats during the opening of the first specialized exhibition Eurasian Potato on 20 August.

The Papua New Guinean Government has instituted a ban on the import of selected Australian fruits and vegetables, including potatoes, effective from 11 August 2015.

Fresh potatoes from New Zealand have been approved for export to Vietnam, providing a new export opportunity for growers.

Potato Prices in Mongolia spike as the country switches to the new potato crop.

The Secretary General of the Jordanian Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply, Yousef Shammali, stressed the importance of a commitment from all relevant authorities to enforce proper rules governing the functioning of the potato market in order to prevent price distortions.

Tasmania's fresh potato growers are building mainstream markets for unusual potatoes, all the way to Dubai.

In Rwanda, a new potato wholesale market in the capital Kigali and collection centres in areas where potatoes are grown are part of a plan to modernize the value supply chain for the potato crop.

While the rest of the agriculture sector nervously eyes the oil melt-down, the french fry industry in Canada might actually be poised for a comeback

The updated NEPG 2015 area estimate, excluding seed and starch potatoes, is available, with total area now estimated down nearly 4% from last year and production estimated down over 12%

The first estimate of total potato plantings for the 2015 crop year in Great Britain from AHDB
Potatoes is 113,100 hectares. This is down 6.6% on the final 2014 planting figure of 121,100
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