Posted By Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on May 7, 2025
MOSCOW (Reuters) -Potatoes are leading Russia's price growth in 2025, having risen by 52% since the start of the year, according to data released on Wednesday, as imports fail to offset the impact of shortages caused by last year's poor harvest.
The potato crop declined by 12% last year, hit by spring frosts and heavy rains that complicated the harvesting process. Farmers also reduced the area seeded with potatoes following a bumper harvest in 2023, which had previously driven prices down.
According to Kommersant daily, retail data indicates that prices for potatoes have tripled in supermarkets compared to last year, reaching a historical high of 85.4 roubles ($1.05) per kilogram.
The government, concerned about rising inflation, has lifted import duties in order to boost potato imports threefold this year to 376,000 tons. About two-thirds of all the imports come from Egypt, which is itself a major importer of Russian wheat.
Russia's Potato Union anticipates this year's harvest will be better due to an increase in the seeded area. The union expects the retail price for potatoes to fall to around 60 roubles when the new harvest hits the shelves in June.
Some agricultural experts have also attributed the decline in the overall potato harvest to Russians' reluctance to grow potatoes themselves on their countryside land plots, a practice that dates back to the Soviet era's food shortages.
Potato prices are closely followed by price increases for cabbage, up by 49% since the start of the year, beets, which are up by 40%, and onions, which are up by 34%.
($1 = 81.1205 roubles)
(Reporting by Gleb BryanskiEditing by Gareth Jones)