Commodity Trading Of Potato- The Present Scenario

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Potato is the largest produced tuber crop in the world. It has an important place among the agricultural crops that are traded all over the world. Potatoes are rich in carbohydrate and have good food value in every country and community in the world. There are many processed food items developed from this tuber crop. This adds more demand and value for this vegetable. Potato is a high yielding crop which can be harvested within a short duration. The international production of this crop extends to 150 countries and presently more than billion people are consuming it.

The trading price of potato is affected by various reasons some of which are not under human control. The size of the area which is under cultivation affects price of potato. If large areas are under cultivation there will be enough quantity to meet the demand sin the market and the price will be steady. If the cultivation area decreases the production also decreases and the demand will be more. Traders can reap money in such situations. Weather of the potato growing regions affects the pricing heavy rains and cold waves will reduce the production and high demand results. The demand for potato in potato related food processing industries will also affect the price movement.
The market of agricultural products is highly fluctuating and trading of potato is no exception. India is major producer of potato and also exports it to the various parts of the world. The new country in the potato exporting list of India is Russia. The potato traders are not happy with the present scenario in potato trading. This is a crop which requires high inputs in the form of manpower and also for leasing the land for cultivation. The potato producers are finding it difficult to get break –even rates. It is expected that the price of potato will move down in the next two months. So investing in the trading of potato is not very feasible at present.

The trading of potato requires great follow up as the market fluctuations are very unpredictable. Even when there is a good harvest the price can move up because of low production in any other part of the world and if the export to that place increases. The prices of almost all food grains are gone up during the past months but the pricing of potato is not showing any improvement. The cold storages help to store potatoes for 5-6 months so that they can be traded when the rates improve. But the producers fear to do so as they believe that the rates may reach further low in the coming months. So it is better to think about any other food crop for making an investment. Commodity trading of potato involves high risk factors and only a well experienced person in this trade will be able to succeed in the trading of potato. Investing in potatoes is not a bad idea at all, but one will have to do it very intelligibly.