Spud prices becoming a hot potato for consumers

Consumers are finding that their favourite lockdown food is becoming much more expensive, with prices reaching around R90 per 10kg bag early in October.

With everyone still having to watch their budgets, consumers are worried because potato prices have increased by an average of 46% since June compared to 2019 prices.

The answer for the spike is simple: Covid-19 and a lot of cold weather in Limpopo, says Dr. André Jooste, CEO of Potatoes SA.

“According to seasonal trends, prices usually decrease between December and April, move sideways until August before they start to climb towards December. However, this year, due to the lockdown, prices fell to under R30 per 10kg bag during the hard lockdown, but started the upward trend already in June,” he says.

“In addition, a lot of potatoes moved around the markets instead of through them, because people were scared of Covid-19 and did not visit fresh produce markets, while the informal sector was initially banned from trading. Transport problems, when travel over provincial borders was prohibited, added to the issue.”

During the first weeks of lockdown, when all restaurants and informal traders were prohibited from trading, the extra stock was also sent to the markets. When restrictions were eased, they started to support the demand again.

When regulations were eased, potatoes kept moving around the markets, leading to less volume at the markets, Jooste says, while Limpopo had a smaller early harvest of 2 million bags less to send to the market due to the colder weather. Potato farmers in Limpopo have started to harvest the main crop, but when the temperature exceeds 28°C, it can cause quality and yield problems, especially if combined with excessive rain.

“Consumers must remember that market prices depend on supply and demand and therefore it is difficult to say what the price will do.

“However, it is starting to look better if one looks at volumes and prices over the past two weeks: on Tuesday, 14 October, as well as Thursday last week, 560 000 were available at fresh produce markets and 820 000 last Friday. On Monday this week, 490 000 bags were available, with 670 000 on Tuesday, 827 000 on Wednesday and almost 900 000 yesterday,” Jooste says.

Last week the average price for Class 1 medium potatoes was R90 on average per 10kg bag, while this week it had already gone down to R70 per bag.

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