Czech Republic: The price of potatoes has fallen below seven crowns.
Farmers are having a hard time selling potatoes this year. There is a surplus on the market and prices have dropped significantly.
It is not easy to sell potatoes in the Vysočina region, as most locals have their own. The low price does not convince residents either. For example, in the supermarket in Počátky in the Pelhřimov region, they can be purchased for 6.90 crowns on sale. Other chains are not far behind. In the Vysočina region, prices ranged from 5.50 to 7 crowns last week.
Those who buy potatoes from their yard will also pay less. "I buy them here at the JZD. It was about 80 crowns for ten kilos," says a potato buyer, adding that they were more expensive last year.
While end consumers may be happy, farmers are not so happy. They complain that they often don’t even get what they invested in growing potatoes for.
"When you sell potatoes per package for fifty or two crowns and your costs are around four, it’s a simple calculation," described Josef Diviš from the Selekta Pacov farm at the Potato Days in Havlíčkův Brod.
Last year’s harvest
Last year, potatoes in stores commonly cost as much as 30 crowns. According to Josef Králíček, chairman of the Czech Potato Association, this is because there were no old potatoes left in the warehouses at the beginning of the harvest.
"This year the season was the opposite. Potatoes from the 2024 harvest were available at the time when the harvest of domestic early potatoes begins in our country. So potatoes put pressure on the price, the price from growers was lower and decreased more quickly during the summer and autumn," he explained.
This year’s significantly higher harvest is also reflected in the price.
Fuente: irozhlas.cz
