Russian potato prices jump 35.3% in a year, the biggest rise of any food product
Retail potato prices in Russia rose 35.3% over twelve months to 59.1 rubles per kilogram, with wholesale up almost 39%, making potatoes the fastest-rising food product. The new harvest has already pulled prices down 13.5% in September, but the Ministry of Agriculture expects a crop of about 8 million tonnes, half a million tonnes below last year.
Potatoes were the fastest-rising food product in Russia over the past year. Retail prices increased 35.3% to 59.1 rubles per kilogram, while wholesale prices rose by almost 39%, Kommersant reported. Figures from Rosstat cited by BFM.ru show the average retail price reaching 59 rubles per kilogram by the end of August, 35% above the level of a year earlier.
The move outpaced every other item in the “borscht set”, the vegetable basket used in Russia as a shorthand for food inflation. White cabbage gained 32.1% over the same twelve months, onions 27.9%, beetroot 23.3% and carrots 17.5%.
A low base after a near-record crop
Experts cited by Kommersant link the scale of the increase mainly to the low comparison base left by the previous season. The organised sector then harvested almost 8.5 million tonnes of potatoes, close to a record, and those volumes pushed prices down hard.
Irina Koziy, chief executive of the information agency FruitNews and head of the Yagodnaya Akademiya project, said the 2025 season brought significant overproduction of potatoes and other borscht-set vegetables in Russia, which triggered a sharp fall in prices. This year harvest volumes normalised, and price tags were correspondingly higher from the outset.
Costs added to the pressure. Kommersant lists three factors beyond the base effect:
- problems on the fuel market;
- more expensive spare parts;
- a labour shortage in vegetable growing that forced producers to raise wages to retain and attract workers.
The new harvest reverses the trend
Arrival of the new crop has already changed the direction of prices. Potatoes became 13.5% cheaper during September, according to Rosstat data cited by BFM.ru.
Koziy said the lowest prices of the year are traditionally recorded in October and early November, when harvesting is complete and the share of the crop not destined for long-term storage reaches the market all at once in most Russian regions.
The Ministry of Agriculture expects a potato crop of about 8 million tonnes this year, half a million tonnes less than in the previous season. Retail chains do not expect shortages. More than 80% of the potatoes on store shelves are produced in Russia, according to data from the Association of Retail Trade Companies (AKORT) cited by Kommersant. The Potato Union's forecast for the quality and volume of the domestic crop is broadly favourable.
Storage supplies point to a spring rebound
From late autumn onwards, supply shifts to potatoes released from storage facilities or shipped in from other regions. Koziy expects that to drive a slow, steady price increase that peaks towards the end of spring.
Spring is also when Russia turns to imports of winter potato varieties, with Egypt, Bangladesh and Pakistan as the traditional suppliers. Late spring and early summer bring volumes from southern neighbours, primarily Azerbaijan. The direction reverses during the mass harvest, when Russia itself exports potatoes, including to Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan's crop is smaller this year than last, Koziy said, so Russian import volumes will most likely exceed those of a year earlier. Analysts quoted by Kuban News expect a renewed round of price growth by spring.
