Ukrainian potato producers are unable to ensure stable supplies of the crop throughout the year, forcing the country to rely on imports. The main reasons are a critical shortage of modern potato storage facilities and the near absence of raw material processing.

At present, Ukraine has only about 300–350 thousand tonnes of storage capacity, and these facilities are not the most modern. As a result, a significant share of the harvest, up to 4 million tonnes is simply lost or used as livestock feed.

Another major problem is the lack of large-scale processing capacity. For comparison, Belgium grows 6.5 million tonnes of potatoes and processes 5.7 million tonnes. Ukraine, according to objective estimates, produces about 8–9 million tonnes of potatoes but processes only around 300 thousand tonnes (up to 100 thousand tonnes into chips and about 200 thousand tonnes into starch). Ukraine does not produce French fries at all, importing 20–25 thousand tonnes of finished products instead.

Reference source: http://surl.li/vbkfjcurq41