Potato Review

www.potatoreview.com POTATO REVIEW SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021 37 INTERNATIONAL MARKET FOCUS G LOBAL statistics state that Ukraine is TOP 4 in the world in terms of potato production, but there is still a shortage of quality potatoes on the market – something suppliers struggle to make their partners understand. In an interview with The agricultural attaché network (LAN), Nick Gordiichuk, Founder and Managing Director of “Agrico Ukraine”, recently shared some insights into the Ukrainian potato business. He described the import and export situation, and how the processing industry is developing. “About 95% of potatoes are grown by households on their homesteads – individuals,” said Nick. “This has its consequences for potato quality and only 5% of potato growing is done professionally according to the modern technologies, with selection of proper varieties etc.” He added: “It is sometimes very difficult for us to explain to our Dutch partners why there is a shortage of quality potatoes on the market.” Nick began his professional career in the fruit and vegetable business back in 1996 at the Ukrainian-Swedish joint venture Chumak as assistant to the CEO, responsible for marketing. Later he became head of sales of the company. Potatoes are grown on around 1 million An evolving market Photo courtesy of Agrico Ukraine An insight into the Ukrainian potato business, the impact of imports, and the development of the processing side. hectares in Ukraine, while professionally the crop is cultivated on an area of 50,000- 55,000 hectares, Nick said. “Every year the younger population of Ukraine is dealing less and less with potato growing.” In 2005, Nick participated in a project with the Dutch potato cooperative AGRICO, and two years later he became the founder and director of AGRICO Ukraine. His company imports high quality seed potato from the Netherlands to Ukraine, and supplies to farms throughout Ukraine. His experience covers breeding, agronomy, marketing, investment management and sales. The market for table varieties is very volatile, he said, and in recent years there has been more of a shift towards processing. “Processors with significant orders entered the market and “encouraged” it a bit. On the other hand, three large professional growers have left the market,” he said. Despite this, smaller growers had taken their place in the market, and expanded, he added. During 2020 Ukraine imported 500 000 tons of potatoes from the Netherlands, Belgium and Poland as the retail sector was unprepared to pay the current prices being asked by Ukranian growers, which had been inflated because of previous storage sell-outs and impacts of bad weather. The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine intervened in the situation last year, but had been relatively ineffective, said Nick. “Processing in Ukraine is gradually growing, but, indeed, we mostly consume imported potato products. For example, French fries potatoes are completely imported. McDonald’s chain imports their French fries from Poland, Belgium, and the Netherlands. There is a small factory for the production of French fries in Chernihiv (Northern Ukraine), now they are building a more powerful production in Cherkasy (Central Ukraine). But keep in mind that the entire Ukrainian market of French fries is only 15 000-20 000 tons per year.” Source: The agricultural attaché network (LAN) “It is sometimes very difficult for us to explain to our Dutch partners why there is a shortage of quality potatoes on the market.” TURN TO PAGE 35 FOR OUR INTERNATIONAL MARKETS NEWS