EastFruit analysts note that Russia’s purchase of an unprecedented volume of potatoes from Georgia in the 2021/2022 season, from May 2021 to April 2022, led to high prices at the beginning of the season in the Georgian market.
Given the adverse weather conditions that led to poor potato production in the Russian Federation in the previous season, Russia switched to a very active import. The country does not usually buy Georgian potatoes, but it had to buy record volumes in 2021-2022.
In the 2021/2022 season, Georgia exported 57 000 tonnes of potatoes, a record high volume driven solely by Russian demand. Such a high level of exports has led to the lowest supply in the local market for at least the last 8 seasons. The low supply, of course, led to high prices, East-Fruit reports.
