Potato prices will increase in the coming months

With regard to World Agriculture Day and Departmental Potato Day, it is worth remembering the behavior of crops and marketing of tubers during the yearsince these have presented volatility in costs and prices.

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And it is based on data from Corabastos, where it is ensured that the prices of the package of 50 kg of pastusa potato “which is the one that is sold the most”, has been presented, for the most part, volatility so far this year.

According to the supply center, for January, prices were presented for the consumer of $125,000 per package, this trend was changing for February, where the tuber rose to $145,000, while for March there was a reduction reaching $140,000. The trend continued for April, where potatoes were sold at the same price as the previous month, but prices began to decline in May, reaching $80,000 per package.

Regarding June, July and August, the downward trend continued with $70,000, $55,000 and $55,000 respectively.

Today the price is set at $45,000.

According to German Palacio, general manager of Fedepapa, these price drops would have occurred due to “the income from the country’s great harvest, which is that of Cundinamarca and Boyacá, and represents 65% of national production.”

However, for the manager, in the coming months the price of potatoes could rise given that “the harvest in Cundinamarca and Boyacá is coming to an end.”
According to Upra, in tubers, and particularly in potatoes, during August supply continued to be abundant.

However, the arracachas, the green and ripe hartón plantain and the diamond yam, showed the opposite trend.

This behavior has been taking place over the last three months and is determined by the output of some potato crops and the lower supply of others. tubers and bananas is due to climatic difficulties.

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According to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) of the National Administrative Department of Statistics (Dane), which presented the results for the potato sector, it concluded that for August the tuber had a variation of -9.31%, while for the year to date there was a -14.85%. in the annual resultthe potato reached 16.91%.

Otherwise, it happened with cassava, which today presents one of the results in higher prices.

According to the Corabastos plant, the supply of cassava is being very little, so today the bulk of the tuber has an estimated price of $115,000.
For its part, Dane assured that cassava presented a monthly variation for August of 0.78% and for the year to date of 94.48%. While the annual, reached great values ​​reaching 131.08%.

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For products derived from tubers, roots and bananas, the annual variation reached 23.62%. For yam, arracacha and others, a result of 62.71% was estimated,
“There is a group of foods whose prices increased, there are products whose prices are reduced and offer consumers the possibility of substituting consumption”, affirmed Felipe Fonseca Fino, director of Upra.

Diana K. Rodriguez T.