India: Bumper crop sends potato prices crashing in Bengal

The price of potato has seen a near 40 per cent year-on-year decline in Bengal mostly because of a bumper crop. Increased flow of stock from Uttar Pradesh and Punjab has also led to weak demand from neighbouring consumer States such as Odisha, further contributing to the decline in prices. Production is expected to be nearly 22 per cent higher than last year at 110,000 lakh tonnes (90 lakh tonnes last year), according to trade sources. The Agriculture Ministry, in its first advance estimates for 2016-17, has pegged the output in West Bengal at 84.27 lakh tonnes. With increased flow from Punjab and UP and existence of old stock in local markets, the price of the early variety (of potato) has fallen,” a cold storage owner said on condition of anonymity. More