Midagri insists that the rise in potato prices is due to speculation

The increase in prices for potatoes in the markets is due to speculation, the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Irrigation said in a statement (Midagri).

The ministry says lower potato yields due to seasonality have not affected supply in Lima’s markets.

As they point out, the evolution of the input volume of this tuber in Lima’s Big Wholesale Market (GMML) increased by 3.3%, which is 502 thousand tons, for the period from January to September 2022.

“Given the seasonality of potato production, income from potatoes in Lima could stagnate in some months of the year, however (observing graph No. 4) one can see that the monthly income from all varieties of potatoes was constant, as usual, with certain fluctuations, but the entry of potatoes GMML was never interrupted,” he says.

According to white potatoesone of the most important varieties, admit that the volume of income fell by 7.5%, given that it has a strong dependence on the use of fertilizers.

But Midagry argues that the lower income from white potatoes was offset by a 25.7% increase in income from yellow potatoes and 43.4% from other varieties of potatoes.

Why do you indicate that the growth is speculative?

The ministry notes that local potatoes such as yellow potatoesuse mostly organic fertilizers and are less dependent on imported fertilizers, and that between March 2021 and April 2022, the price growth rate for yellow potatoes at the farm gate is almost zero (0.6%).

It is worth noting that, according to Midagri, yellow potatoes have risen in recent months, with wholesale prices rising from 1.83 shillings per kilogram in May to 2.92 shillings in June, 3.46 shillings per kilogram and 3.64 shillings in July. in August.

Price in retail stores dad yellow rose from S/3.51 in May to S/4.17 in June, to S/4.91 in July and to S/5.71 in August.

“Although it is in this last month of August that only potatoes in the field experience moderate growth: from S / 1.57 in July to S / 1.99 in August. in farm prices for yellow potatoes, even as the price of imported fertilizers is already falling,” they argue.

They add that the average increase in the price of this variety of potatoes in farms was 11.8%, while in the wholesale market – 18.2%, and in retail markets – 15.2%.

“These high levels do not respond to a specific cause, in any case they are purely speculative, even more so if markets Big Lima is fully provided with potatoes of various varieties, including white and yellow.

Midagri added that the increase in fertilizer has had a relative impact on the rise in white potato prices, and they specify that fertilizer prices on the international market have begun to fall since May, and others since June.