Ecuador: "We’re selling potatoes at a loss so we don’t have to keep the merchandise."
A quintal of potatoes can be found for as little as five dollars at the Ambato Wholesale Market, when it reached 25 dollars in January.
Merchants
Sellers like Susana Cujano say, "Prices are very low. You’ll see how many hundredweights our women are leaving behind. Selling potatoes isn’t a good deal right now."
He added that production is high throughout the country, and that is why there is so much variety for sale, but "few people come to buy."
Concern is also evident in Carlos Ortiz, who said that sales have dropped by at least 30%, "We don’t really know why people don’t come to buy, potatoes are so cheap that we should have a lot of people buying, but there are almost none, this is a product that can’t be stored and hidden for when the price goes up again, we have to sell it somehow, that’s why today (Tuesday, June 24) I sent quintals of Semichola to the Coast at seven dollars because I had no more left."
Merchants at the wholesaler claim they are even selling at a loss because "the important thing is not to keep the merchandise."
They add that the price drop is also due to overproduction, as potatoes are arriving from the north of the country, from Salcedo, among other provinces.
"We need something urgently done because the business is failing, and that affects our families," Ortiz concluded.
Nationwide, 25,000 hectares of potatoes are produced. Of these, Carchi alone accounts for 50% of the production.
Producers
Luis Montesdeoca, representing the Agropapa Association, commented that the situation for Tungurahua producers is very complicated, since in areas like Quero, where potatoes are produced primarily for shipment to the coast, a 45-kilo quintal is being sold to wholesalers for no more than two dollars, which means they aren’t even making their investment. Something similar is happening with Super Chola, which producers are selling for no more than seven dollars, when the price at the wholesale market is reported to be $14.
The producer noted that planting and harvesting a hectare of potatoes requires between $7,000 and $8,000, and the cost is 600 quintals, so they are not making any profit at current prices.
Like the merchants, he noted that the lack of consumer interest, as well as the influx of potatoes from other provinces, have affected local production. However, he explained that Tungurahua has learned to manage the purple top pest, allowing harvests to proceed normally.
He also noted that there were no frosts at the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025, so there was no decrease in production.
However, one thing that worries him is that the situation will worsen in July and August when, due to the Amazon holiday season, consumer interest drops even further.
For this reason, he believes that one of the measures that should be taken within the Wholesaler is to impose a quota, at least until the situation improves, on potatoes arriving from other provinces.
Additionally, he believes that institutions involved in production in Tungurahua and Ambato should launch a campaign to highlight the nutritional benefits of potatoes, thereby demystifying many ideas against their consumption and using them as a substitute for other , even more expensive, products, such as green potatoes.
Quero, Píllaro, and Ambato—in that order—are the cantons with the highest potato production in Tungurahua.
Consumers
Even though wholesale prices have dropped significantly, in the city markets, prices and quantities remain the same as always.
"They give me the same price for a bucket, two dollars. In fact, this Monday (June 23) there were fewer potatoes because it seems they can’t sell more," said Cristina Saltos, who was shopping inside the Central Market.
As Nataly Ordóñez stated, she continues to buy the same amount of potatoes for the same price as always. "Only when the price goes up do the farmers say they have to sell fewer potatoes or raise the price, but during this time of year, no one says anything," she added.
Both women pointed out that, given the official prices at wholesalers, authorities should go to the markets and see if prices have dropped there, because "in the end, the one who always benefits the most is the intermediary," said Ordóñez. (NVP)
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