Russian demand for Scots potatoes on the rise

Scottish potato growers are currently benefiting from last summer's extreme weather on the Continent with exports going as far afield as Russia and Spain where there are massive shortages.

The current export trade was yesterday described as "buoyant" by Robert Doig, Kinross, a grower and board member of the Potato Council, with buyers from the Continent trying to fill shortages.

While there has always been some trade with Europe, there seems to be an added edge this year with the Russian market opening up and looking for big tonnages.

Doig said that some estimates showed a four million tonne shortfall in Russian production from the 2010 crop. Current price for potatoes in Russia are about 250 per tonne; this is upwards of 100 per tonne above UK market levels.

While there was no way any single country could fill that gap, the fact is that there are extra buyers in the market and they are putting an edge to the trade.

Mark Prentice, the head of seed and exports for the Potato Council, confirmed that he had been receiving a large number of enquiries from Russia and also from Poland, normally a major producer of potatoes

Russia is not an established and regular market for potatoes and this is shown by the variety of methods in which purchases are being sent. Some crops are going off in bulk to be packed in Europe, others are being despatched in one-tonne bags while some are going in 25 kilo paper sacks.

Transport is also varied, with some being shipped and others going overland in road haulage containers

There is no accurate indication of tonnage going abroad yet but the Scottish Agricultural Science Agency is busy carrying out testing on samples of all crops going to Russia as one of the requirements for this market is that the potatoes are free from potato cyst nematodes.

In another part of the world, there may be turmoil on the streets in Egypt but there seems little threat to one of Scotland main seed potato markets. Prentice, said that as far as he was aware the current civil unrest was not affecting the export of seed from this country.

"Normally, trade with Egypt would be completed before Christmas but this year, because of the bad weather, we had a two-week extension for exports," he said. "I have not picked up on any problems that might affect trade."

Last year Egypt took some 35,000 tonnes of Scottish seed making it the largest buyer outwith the European Union.

Prentice did not have this year's final figures but said that there was every indication this year's export figures would be much the same.