Potato prices spurt on output damage

Unseasonal rainfalls, hailstorms hit the crop badly

Potato prices jumped upto 25% in the last four days due to reports of massive damage of the harvested crop on inclement weather. Intermittent rainfalls followed by hailstorms, thundering and increase in temperature led to around 15-18% damage in harvested output.

In Amritsar mandis, for example, average price of potato shot up to Rs 1000 a quintal on Tuesday from Rs 800 a quintal on last Saturday, an increase of 25%. Similarly, in Rajkot potato price jumped 17% in the last four days trade at Rs 1,550 a quintal.

In Delhi mandi, potato arrivals fell to 12,547 quintals yesterday as compared to 15,405 quintals four days ago. In Kolkata too potato arrivals fell to 2,160 quintals from 2700 quintals earlier­­.

“There has been intermittent rainfalls followed by thundering, hailstorms and rapid increase in temperature which reduced supplies to mandis and damaged harvested potato output severely. The potato got completely wet which reduced its shelf life,” said R P Gupta, director, National Horticulture Research & Development Federation (NHRDF).

Consequently, arrivals in major mandis across the country have fallen steeply by 25-30%. Most of un-harvested crop damaged in the field due to excessive of soil moisture which created difficulty in harvesting of standing crop. With every plant of potato brought huge quantity of mud along. By the time, mud dried to get separated from potato, a dark spot left on it.

Spicing up - Potato model price
Markets	Apr-19	Apr-22	Variations (%)
Agra	1,000	1,150	8.5
Amritsar	800	1,000	25
Bangalore	1,600	1,700	12.5
Delhi	1,265	1,395	9.88
Jammu	1,300	1,550	19.23
Kolkata	1,190*	1,250	5.04
Mumbai	1,500	1,600	5
Rajkot	1,325	1,550	16.98
Source : NHRDF, * Previous working day

In addition to high moisture, dark spot reduced shelf life of potato. The quantity hitting mandis was bought largely by bulk consumers. But, instead of storing potato directly in cold storage, bulk consumers have first stored it in closed environment to reduce moisture content. Also, spreading in open air for a short period before dispatching to cold storage, also helps segregate good quality potato with spoiled one.

“There has been at least 30% reduction in storage this year. Last year by this time around, bulk consumers had filled their storages. But, only 65-70% of storage is filled this year. Arrivals into the mandis directly go to consumers,” said Gupta.

India produced 447 lakh tonnes of potato from an area of 19.65 lakh hectares in 2012-13. This year, however, potato output is expected to remain lower by at least 15-20% on inclement weather and lower acreage.

“The government is aware of the lower crop estimates this year. Therefore, it should encourage sowing of kharif potato to reduce shortage and therefore, fear of unprecedented price escalation,” said a senior official of Central Potato Research Organisation.

In India, potato is sown in both kharif and rabi seasons. Available between August and October period, kharif produce accounts for 15 - 20% of total annual output. The remaining 80-85% comes into the market between mid-December and mid-April period considered as rabi produce. Only, the rabi potato is stored till November and is made available steadily for domestic as well as export markets.

“Even rabi produce cannot be stored for long due to high moisture content,” said Gupta.

The demand for potato increased due to its substitution for other costly vegetables. In fact, temperature has increase in major producing centres by at least 8-9% to 38-39 degree Celsius now from less than 30 degree Celsius about seven – 10 days ago. The massive increase in temperature has affected onion bulb (small growing) severally. Consequently, not only its size will remain lower but also its storage capacity will reduce because of extra moisture in the standing crop.