Ukraine today has potato storage capacities of 300,000 tonnes with the minimum necessary level to meet the domestic needs being 1.5 million tonnes, Director of the Ukrainian Association of Potato Producers Oksana Ruzhenkova has said. Over the past five years, 350,000 tonnes of storage facilities have lost their usability. The domestic demand is at least 1.5 million tonnes.
According to Ruzhenkova, this year the state plans to allocate UAH 400 million from the budget for the development of horticulture, and under this program, potato producers see the potential for using funds to compensate for the construction of storage facilities.
She noted that until 2014 domestic potato consumption in Ukraine was estimated at 7 million tonnes, now it is about 4.5 million tonnes with production standing at 20 million tonnes. The processing capacity in Ukraine is only about 250,000 tonnes of potatoes.
Source: Ukrainian Association of Potato Producers
