Uzbekistan’s wholesale potato price has risen by 43 percent in the past week. In an effort to reduce the increase in food prices, the country’s upper house of parliament voted this week to eliminate the import tax on a number of food items, including potatoes.
In Uzbekistan, wholesale prices for potatoes increased by 43% during the period from October 14 to October 21, 2021 (from $ 0.33 to $ 0.47), i.e. from 3,500 to 5,000 soums / kg. Compared with the same date in 2020, the current price levels are 39% higher, and more than two times higher than those of 2019.
By October 22, 2021, tubers sell for between 5,900 and 7,000 soums ($0.55-0.65) in supermarkets in the capital of the republic.
In the country, the average wholesale prices for potatoes from the 2021 harvest rose 17% from mid-September to the end of this month, though the prices had been relatively stable since the beginning of August. Uzbekistan has recently increased its potato imports (in 2020 – 421 thousand tons; in January-July 2021 – 310 thousand tons).
To prevent further price increases for potatoes on the domestic market of Uzbekistan, the Oliy Majlis (upper house of parliament) approved a law on October 21, 2021, that zeros out value added tax (VAT) on potatoes imported or sold in the country. VAT reduction is also done for live animals, frozen fish, and meat products.
Chairman of the Committee on Budget and Economic Reforms, Senator Erkin Gadoev, stated that the country’s budget will lose $7.2 billion in sales turnover due to the reduction of VAT on potato imports.
The Uzbek government has not introduced this measure for the first time in trying to control potato price growth. The importation of these products was also exempt from VAT from February 20 to December 31, 2018.
