Falling imports pushed potato prices up by 50%

Over the past 12 months, prices per potato kilo have risen by 50% on average in the wake of falling supplies amid shrinking imports, bad weather conditions lower number of growers.

Valeriu Tab`r`, Agriculture and Rural Development Minister, stated the advance is due to some "technical problems".
In the first 11 months of last year, Romania imported 53,000 tonnes of potatoes, worth 9.5m euros. Exports in the same period reached 19,000 tonnes, worth 1.8m euros, according to the National Statistics Institute (INS).

Ioan Benea, chairman of the Federation of Romanian Potato Growers (FCCR), estimates Romania's 2010 potato production covers just one third of quantities needed domestically.
Benea specifies Romania does not have industrial potato producers and that the number of large plantations is low.
Prices will rise further by mid-2011, with significant price drops as highly unlikely due to the downbeat outlooks for this year's production, believes Benea.