A post-monsoon shower spell in West Bengal the last two days has boosted sentiments in the potato trade. As the rain delayed sowing season of tubers by 15-20 days, traders expectprices of the old stock to look up.

Last year, the country harvested a bumper potato crop last year. As the second largest potato growing State, Bengal reported a 22 per cent rise in output to 110 lakh tonnes, (lt) leading to a price crash.

According to Bimal Ghora, a potato trader, had the sowing season not got delayed, the trade would have ended with 5-6 lt of end-season stock. He now expects to clear the stock before the new crop starts arriving in the market beginning January.

Traders, however, ruled out any major end-season rise in potato prices.

“Prices may not move up too much as we have excess stock to meet the demand till December,” Patit Paban De, President of the West Bengal Cold Storage Association, told BusinessLine .

Nearly 25 lakh tonnes of potatoes are still lying in cold storages.

The prices, which had gone down to ₹300-350 a quintal at the start of this season in February-March, inched up and are now around ₹600-650 a quintal (₹750 in the same period last year).

“Prices have improved with the tuber finding its way into the markets of Assam, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, thanks to the transport subsidy announced by the Bengal government,” De said.

Delayed sowing

According to official sources, the showers have delayed harvesting of the early variety of paddy. Hence, sowing of potato, which usually begins in October second week after paddy is harvested, has been put on hold.

“Given the recent downpour, a majority of the farmers, particularly in the uplands, are yet to start harvesting the crop,” said Pranab Chatterjee, professor at Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya .

For farmers, however, it is not just the showers, but potato prices have also played a spoilsport this year.

“Farmers did not get good price for their crop last season so were not encouraged to sow the crop. Moreover, the showers have delayed the process of sowing hybrid varieties such as Pukhraj and S6 as the fields are still not clear of the paddy crop,” a potato trader said.

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