During the broadcast meeting with representatives of various industries, Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted that the country was struggling with a significant deficit of potatoes. He emphasized that after talks with representatives of the agricultural sector, it turned out that the supplies of this product are insufficient. As a result, their prices increased by 166.5 percent. In practice, this means that the Russians pay 84.7 ruble per kilo (approx. PLN 4). It is even worse in wholesalers – prices have increased by up to 285 percent.
– It turns out that we do not have enough potatoes. I talked about it with President Lukashenko. He told me: “We have already sold everything Russia,” said Vladimir Putin, quoted by the TASS agency.
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Deficiencies and price jumps must be very serious, since Russia for the first time in history decided to import potatoes from Mongolia. According to Baikal Daily, in April and May, more than 4,000 were imported from a neighbor. tons of raw material. However, this is only the first step. Moscow plans to abolish duties on countries that decide to export the raw material to Russia.
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Why is potatoes lacking in Russia?
As indicated by the portal “The Moscow Times”, poor potato harvests are the result of frosts that have been damaged by developing plants, and drought, which made potatoes less impressive than usual.
The matter became so serious that it was commented on by the Belarusian leader.
“A lot is said, especially after meeting the Russian President, where he joked about potatoes. For us it is a very serious matter. In what sense? We can grow potatoes. We need to do enough to make it enough for us and Russia” – said Aleksander Łukashenko, quoted by the Belta agency.
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How many potatoes do Russia need a year?
According to the data of “The Moscow Times”, Russia consumes about 8 million tons of potatoes annually. In 2024, the country produced 7.3 million tons, which means a decrease of 1.2 million tons compared to the previous year.
