Leading Russian fresh produce marketer JFC says the country is expecting this season's potato campaign to be 'hard work' after a poor harvest affected by harsh winter conditions and the recent heatwave.
'In Russia, the harvest was really bad,' said JFC's Dmitriy Gerasimov. 'Some of the crop is rotten in the fields, some of it is black because of a lack of minerals.'
According to Mr Gerasimov, the Russian government is understood to be investigating the possibility of lifting existing tariffs on imported potatoes in light of the disappointing crop.
'Our country is talking about cancelling import duties for a short period of time for potatoes,' he revealed. 'I think this could happen around January.'
The hot weather which affected much of Russia during the summer is likely to have caused a 10 per cent downturn in the country's agricultural output, affecting crops including potatoes and vegetables.
First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov told journalists that the worst drought and heat recorded in Russia during the past 130 years had not only cut grain crops by a third, but contributed to a 24.4 per cent reduction in the size of the potato harvest and a 6.1 per cent fall in vegetable production.
'Agriculture may lose up to 10 per cent this year, but these are not final figures,' Mr Shuvalov told the Russian Parliament, confirming that the final figures would be published only after all Russian regions had finished harvesting.
He said many regions had been hit by an unusually severe winter as well as the summer drought, but insisted that farmers would be in a position to recover next year after the government provided emergency funding to affected regions.
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