Evolution of the potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) market in Argentina

Abstract

Potato is the main horticultural crop commercialised in Argentina; along with just a handful of other vegetables, namely tomato, onion, squash and carrot, it represents 70% of total vegetable commercialisation and consumption in the country. The aim of the current work is to analyze the evolution of the potato market in Argentina, based upon the volume received by the Buenos Aires Central Market. For this end, the following aspects were assessed for the period 1999-2016: the percent variation in the incoming volume and the tendency of the total incoming volumes (TV); and, in 2016, the volume per month and per cultivar (VM and VC), province of origin and average price evolution over the year (EP). From the comparative analysis between the early years and the end of the study, an increase of 19% was observed, mainly in the months of May (20%), February (13%), January (12%), October (10%), April (7%) and July (6%). The mean TV commercialised over 1999 to 2016 was 333,254 t, with a mean VM of 27,774 t month-1. The following months exceeded this mean: November (29509a), August (29235a), October (29200a), July (28997ab), June (28553ab), December (28117ab) and May (27970ab); while in 2016, the mean VM was 27772, where the following exceeded the mean: October: 32789a, May: 30286ab and August: 28715ab. Potatoes are grown in 12 provinces: Buenos Aires (75.86%), Córdoba (12.07%), Tucumán (7%), San Luis (2.02%), Mendoza (1.97%), Jujuy (0.55%) and Santa Fe (0.34%), with the remaining 2% in San Juan, Rio Negro, Catamarca, Corrientes and Santa Cruz. The cultivars under commercialisation are: ‘Spunta’ (95%), ‘Innovator’ (0.27%), ‘Daisy’ (0.15%), ‘Asterix’ (0.10%), ‘Kennebec’ (0.034%), ‘Atlantic’ (0.022%), ‘Ballenera’ (0.06%) and unidentified (3.92%). For EP, the average monthly price was 0.27 US$ kg-1, and higher than average prices were observed in July 0.35, September 0.34, June 0.322, August 0.31, October 0.29 and December 0.28 US$ kg-1, respectively. These results indicate an annual increase of 1%, and the need to expand the production and consumption of cultivars of higher nutritional quality and increase the production in those provinces that, although possessing favorable agroclimatic conditions, show low market participation.