BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan.27
By Tamilla Mammadova – Trend:
Potato prices in Georgia in January 2020 markedly exceed last year's price level, Trend reports citing EastFruit information and analytical platform.
As reported, in January 2019, Georgian potato growers sold their products on average at 60-65 tetri (21- 23 cents) per kg, and in January 2020, potato prices already reached 75- 85 tetri (26-28 cents) per kg.
Thus, in 2020, the average wholesale price for potatoes in Georgia is 25-30 percent higher than in 2019.
High prices for potatoes stimulate imports; at the moment, potatoes from Azerbaijan, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey and Russia are also sold on the Georgian wholesale market. High prices also make local farmers think about expanding the area for potatoes for the next season, the report said.
The cost of local seed potatoes, depending on the class, ranges from 80 tetri to 1.5 lari (27-52 cents) per kg. Seed potatoes imported from EU countries (France, Germany, the Netherlands) are sold at 1-1.1 euros per kg.
Last season (May 2018 - April 2019), Georgia imported a record low amount of seed potatoes - only 598 tons.
In the previous two seasons, imports consistently amounted to about 710 tons per year.
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