Inside: Potato Market
Russians are eager for Dutch seed potatoes
In Russia, a bad growing season means limited availability of seed potatoes for the 2018 harvest. This means a doubling of Dutch seed potato exports. Seed potatoes are also obtained from other European countries.
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Choose the subscription that suits youThe Russian phytosanitary service Rosselkhoznadzor already gave the green light at the end of January for the import of 11.000 tons of seed potatoes from the Netherlands. In addition, 1.600 tons of seed potatoes may also be imported from Finland. This volume is almost entirely attributable to HZPC Sadokas, confirms Gerard Backx (CEO of HZPC). The Dutch trading house can use their Finnish company as a 'back door' to supply seed potatoes to Russia.
Low local production
The largest volume comes from Germany. Rosselkhoznadzor allows the import of 20.000 tons of starting material, but seed potatoes from France, Poland and Scotland were not approved. The agency estimates that 15.000 to 20.000 tons were produced by Russia last year. A bad growing season is the cause of this. The yield is lower and the quality is also lower. Seed potatoes are expected to be scarce this year.
The vast majority of Russia's seed potato needs are met by Belarus, which accounts for almost half. The advantage of Eastern European seed potatoes is the favorable price (compared to starting material from Western Europe). earlier wrote Boerenbusiness all that high-quality seed potatoes are the key to a growing Russian potato sector. Professional chip manufacturers are successful because they are in control.
Doubtful seed potatoes
Last year, Russia purchased 5.812 tons of Dutch seed potatoes from the 2016 harvest, on a total market of more than 25.000 tons. The volume for the 2015 harvest (4.600 tons) was even lower. Moreover, it remains to be seen whether the entire 11.000 tons, which are eligible for Russia, will be exported. "If in doubt, a batch is not thrown away. All seed potatoes have been inspected in advance, so replacing batches is not possible," Backx explains.
Rosselkhoznadzor is strict on imported seed potatoes. In 2017 registered it 11 parties that did not meet the standard. For example, there was a problem with rhizoctonia on Dutch seed potatoes. In 4 cases a warning was given and in another 4 cases the service issued fines of 3.400 rubles, the equivalent of €48.
Seed potato exports to Russia have been considerably lower over the past 2 years.
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