News on Potato Stats, Trade, Prices from India

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.

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

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.

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.

Gujarat's Banaskantha district has mashed Agra (Uttar Pradesh) in potato production, taking the No. 1 rank in India.

The government of India Tuesday removed the minimum export price (MEP) of potato, which was imposed in July, to boost shipments of the kitchen staple.

Despite a fresh crop arriving at the wholesale market in Vashi (Mumbai area), retail prices of potatoes show no decline

The government of India today imposed minimum export price (MEP) of USD 360 per tonne on potato to increase domestic availability and cool prices.

Aiming to boost potato exports, the Indian government is considering identifying ‘pest-free zones’ for the staple in production clusters of the growing states like Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

Potato farmers in Gujarat are a happy lot this year, as they are getting better prices for their produce despite 15% increase in potato production.

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.

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

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.

The Government of India has stepped up taking measures, well in advance, to avoid any situation of abnormal increase prices of onion and potato.

A bumper crop, coupled with weak demand from other States, has led to a free-fall in potatoes prices in West Bengal.

The Indian government has decided to remove the minimum export price of potato as its availability has increased and prices have eased in domestic markets.

Domestic potato production in India in the present Rabi season is likely to be 25-30 per cent higher over last year on account of good weather conditions.