Potato exports begin on back of bumper crop

AHMEDABAD/KOLKATA: Exporters have begun marketing potatoes, India’s largest vegetable crop by volume, in the Middle East and Southeast Asia on the back of a second consecutive bumper crop of 37 million tonne this year.

The Punjab government, meanwhile, is pushing for an access to the European market. Currently, India exports 1-2 million tonne to Pakistan, Singapore and Dubai. Farmers have lost money on potatoes in the last few months because large supplies have brought down prices below production cost. Traders and exporters from eastern India have been marketing the vegetable to Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka and the Middle East countries.

At the World Potato Congress to be held in Scotland this May, potato seed traders and potato exporters are expected to mark their presence. “We are planning to sell potato seeds to Egypt and other the Middle East countries. A clear idea of the potato crop will be there by a fortnight,” said Jalandhar-based Confederation of Potato Seed Farmers chief Sukhjit Bhatti