Growers are anxious to ship. Potato prices have fallen sharply recently.

Recently, the price of potatoes has maintained a high decline, with the highest even reaching 14%. What is the reason for such a big drop in potato prices? Will the price of potatoes be affected by the change from vegetables to staple food?

Growers are anxious to ship. Potato prices have fallen sharply recently.

Editor's note: these two days, small potatoes have become the focus of everyone's attention. Look at the market. Today we will talk about potatoes. Since potatoes have changed from vegetables to staple food, the hearts of eaters are quite tangled. Should they make potato rice or potato flour? However, for potato growers, what they care about most is the price.

Our reporter learned that potato prices have recently maintained a high decline, with the highest even reaching 14%. What is the reason for such a big drop in potato prices? Will the price of potatoes be affected by the change from vegetables to staple food?

Sun Dong is a big potato grower in Yangjiawan, Weichang Manchu Mongolian Autonomous County, Chengde City, Hebei Province, with more than 100 mu of potatoes in his family, Rural Voice of China reported. Sun Dong told reporters that high input did not give him a high return, and the current potato market really made him sweat. He can't stand it if the price goes down like this.

Sun Dong: "recently, it is still not very good. It continues to drop in price. If Kexin (potato variety) is more than two taels, it is 36 cents per jin and 36 cents per jin."

Sun Dong is not the only one who is worried. Zhao Gang, a potato dealer in Zhuanjing Town, Dingbian County, Yulin City, Shaanxi Province, has seen through the ups and downs of the potato market in recent years. He said that at current prices, one mu of land can reap one or two thousand jin, and then sell it for hundreds or thousands of yuan, excluding the investment of more than 1,000 yuan, which can be regarded as a waste of work in a year.

Zhao Gang: "I think too much about this matter, mainly because farmers can't sell potatoes at a good price year after year and lose money." The main reason is that the price of potatoes is low, and they cannot sell cabbage for money. every year, farmers have to lose money on the yield of potatoes per mu, and farmers have to lose money if they cannot make money. "

The latest monitoring data show that compared with January 8, potato prices in seven provinces across the country fell on January 9, with Liaoning falling the most, by 1.52 yuan per kilogram, or 14.12 percent. Why did the price of potatoes fall so much? He Tan, an analyst at Zhuochuang Information, believes that the main reason is that growers are in a hurry to ship goods on the eve of the Spring Festival.

He Tan: "especially from December to the present, because near the Spring Festival, farmers, including depositors, are more enthusiastic and anxious about shipping goods, so prices have dropped significantly in Inner Mongolia and Hebei." This price is already lower than the listing price, because after a period of storage, the price is even lower than the listing price, probably falling by about 40%. "

In fact, potato prices have not just begun to fall recently, Mr. Hotan said. Since the listing of Tudou last year, the market has been on a skateboard, falling all the way, which continues the usual style of ups and downs in the Tudou market.

Hertan: "prices in most producing areas have fallen by 40% to 50%. It can be said that the price decline is very large." From 11 years to 14 years now, the price fluctuation of potatoes is very obvious, basically 14 years is the lowest, 12 years is slightly better than 11 years, 13 years has reached a very high position, 14 years has seen a significant decline compared with 13 years. The price of potatoes fluctuates up and down, and the fluctuation from year to year is very large. "

So, are all the main potato producing areas singing sad songs? This is not the case, he Tan said. At present, the price difference in various producing areas is relatively large, especially in Shandong, because the inventory this year is slightly lower, so the price is relatively high.

Hetan: "the price difference between the producing areas of Inner Mongolia and Hebei and that of Shandong this year may reach 0.4 to 0.5 yuan. This year, there is also such a characteristic, so the price difference between the producing areas is relatively large."

Looking back on the past year, it is not difficult to find that unsalable and low prices are the key words in the vegetable market in 2014. Potatoes, as vegetables at that time, were also in this whirlpool, so it is not difficult to understand that the price fluctuates greatly. Potatoes, which were vegetables last year, have now become a staple food. In the face of such changes, some growers also have expectations for the future potato market.

Hebei potato grower Sun Dong: "the scarcity is precious, the more the price will not go up." Of course, it is good as a staple grain, because it is in great demand as a staple grain. "

However, he Tan, an analyst at Zhuochuang Information, also reminded potato growers that it is good to have expectations, but they should also be treated rationally. After all, the identity of potatoes as a staple food has just begun, and it is difficult to achieve earth-shaking changes in the potato market in the short term.

Hertan: "now because it is a staple food, its demand release needs a process." Because after it is used as a staple food, including if it is processed into staple foods such as noodles and steamed bread, because it takes a process for consumers to accept this kind of food, so it needs a process to release its demand. maybe this process will be released gradually in three to five years. "

Of course, potatoes have become staple foods, and their status has become more important. To this end, he Tan believes that the state may introduce relevant policies to ensure the stability of the potato market.

Hetan: "in the later stage, the state may also introduce some similar policies similar to the three staple grains, such as corn, wheat and rice, to ensure the stability of potato prices." Because it as a staple grain, if its price is unstable, it may lead to the instability of its planting area or output in the later stage, which may not solve the problem of food security and fail to achieve the original intention of the country to solve the food crisis. So in the later stage, there may be some specific measures to stabilize the price of potatoes. "