Ukraine is forecasting a potato shortage and rising potato prices
Due to the prolonged heat and lack of moisture, Ukraine’s potato harvest in 2026 could be approximately 30% smaller than last year’s. Against this backdrop, potato prices are expected to rise by about one-third this fall.
According to Mykola Furdyga, director of the Institute of Potato Growing at the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine, the abnormal heat during the budding and flowering stages of the potato plants dealt the greatest blow to the harvest.
At the Potato Research Institute’s farm, where about 60 potato varieties are grown, a drop in yield of approximately 30% compared to last year has already been recorded.
“The cause is abnormal temperature stress. When temperatures exceeded +37 °C for more than five consecutive days, the plants’ photosynthetic surface simply stopped functioning. The plants used all their water not to build up the crop, but to cool themselves and survive. Due to this six-day heat shock, we lost approximately 7 metric tons per hectare of the harvest. And these figures are for irrigated fields. The situation is even more difficult on non-irrigated land, where losses will be greater,” explained Furdiga.
Experts predict that due to the reduced harvest and a shortage of produce on the market, potato prices could rise by about 30% this fall.
According to experts, this season’s weather conditions have posed one of the most serious challenges for producers, and the greatest losses were suffered by farms growing potatoes without irrigation, where the effects of the heat and moisture shortage were even more severe.
Final harvest volumes and the market situation are expected to become clear after the harvest season ends, but farmers are already forecasting lower potato supply and a further increase in prices.
This was reported by SEEDS.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Grain Association forecasts the 2026 harvest of grains and oilseeds at 83.6 million metric tons, which will exceed last year’s figure of approximately 80 million metric tons.
Over the past year, prices for meat and meat products in Ukraine have risen by up to 45% in some areas. Beef remains the most expensive—its price continues to hover at record levels. Experts predict that by the end of winter, meat prices could rise another 5–7%.
Inflation in Ukraine: Prices rose by 0.4% in November.
