Ukraine risks being left without a potato crop this year. Because of the intense heat and rains in the south, the ground is too wet, so the root crops rot, and in the north, on the contrary, there is no rain, and the potatoes dry up. According to farmers, a third of the potato crop has already been lost.
It is estimated that the damage of only one farm, which planted early potatoes on 20 hectares, amounts to about UAH 10 million today.
In Kherson wholesale markets, the price of potatoes at the beginning of August is UAH 4 per kilogram, in Lviv region - UAH 5-6 per kg, in Kharkiv region - about UAH 8 per kg. At the same time, early Kherson potatoes cost UAH 15 per kg in Kyiv. But prices for potatoes will start to fall, because they are not of very high quality this year, and it is necessary to sell the crop.
Farmers hope that low prices will increase demand for early potatoes. Potatoes may rise in price from September, when farmers harvest the late harvest. But this will happen if the quality of the potato is more acceptable than it is now.
Let us remind you that the heat and rains also destroyed part of the wheat harvest and the rest of the grain in Ukraine.
