Huge potato surplus spurs examination of product and market diversification

This year's unexpected bumper harvest of Irish potatoes in Poland has triggered a dramatic plunge in price. According to the Central Statistical Office (GUS), potato production this year has reached 22.7-23.8 million tons, or a 13.9%-19-4% rise year-on-year. Most of the output will be used to produce stock-feed, since grain feed is relatively expensive. Despite the rise in the price of potatoes at the London commodity market, Polish exports cannot count on success on Western markets, since there is little interest in agricultural products from this region, which are more expensive than those produced in Germany and the Netherlands. Efforts to revive exports to the former Soviet Union are hampered by the 50% customs duty levied by Russia, the largest market in the region, coupled by ever-rising transportation costs. According to Svetlana Stassiak from Biuro Eksportowe-Silvi-Cola export agency, Poland could boost potato sales if it focused on exporting the varieties used for processed foods such as potato chips, which Russia treats with less suspicion and on which it is unlikely to impose protectionist tariffs. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B3),.