With recent wholesale prices for yellow potatoes hovering between USD0.16 and 0.27/kg, for red potatoes ranging from USD0.19 to 0.29/kg, and for white potatoes going from USD0.20 to 0.29/kg, based on an EastFruit analysis, the average price of taters in Poland this month may reach the highest level in recent years.

This indicates that despite ongoing harvesting and the resulting rise in the current supply, there is still a high demand for potatoes.

Low supply on the one hand and high demand on the other are the main causes of the sharp rise in potato prices in the Polish market. Poland’s potato harvest in 2022 will only be 6.1m tonnes, the smallest amount since at least 2010.

“The fact is that low harvests do not mean record prices, as the 2015-2016 season showed, but this year’s price growth is supported by high demand, especially from exporters. Thus, importers from Hungary, Lithuania, and Romania are already showing interest in Polish potatoes. In addition, Polish potatoes are most likely to be exported to Ukraine,” the analysts said.

All of it indicates that the season 2022–2023 will see record-breaking potato price levels. At the same time, inflation and a sharp rise in the price of growing and storing vegetables have an impact on the agricultural sector’s profitability, which includes the production of potatoes.