Sudafrica: Farmers get R34 for 10kgs of potatoes. Here’s what retailers charge.

Currently South Africa’s farm-gate price for potatoes averages R34 for a 10kg bag, Potatoes SA has said.

At one unnamed store, the association found a 10kg bag of potatoes priced at R89.99.

“While our consumers are currently struggling to make ends meet, we unfortunately still find product priced at certain outlets as per the picture attached. We encourage our consumers to shop around for appropriately priced potatoes,” Potatoes SA said.

Ideally, by the time potatoes reach the retailer’s shelves, they should cost twice as much as the farmers’ price, considering other components involved in the process, such as packing costs, Jaco Koekemoer, marketing manager for Potatoes SA, told Business Insider South Africa.

“There’s added value on the market price, like at the fresh produce price. From that market price, you actually need to deduct some costs, that is the 10% to 12.5% agent and municipal commission that needs to be deducted, as well as the transport cost, [and] the bag cost, and then you actually get to the farmer’s price that he is putting in his pocket,” said Koekemoer.

In his weekly video tracking prices for fresh produce in South Africa, Johnny van der Merwe of agricultural information group Agrimark Trends (AMT), said the producers are currently facing a lot of pressure, while prices remain low.

The current average price for a 10kg bag of potatoes is over 42% cheaper than last year this time, he said.

“The potato price remained on a low level and is also putting severe pressure on the profitability of producers at the moment, especially when considering the high input costs currently. The national average potato price decreased to R30.41 per 10kg which is about 42% lower than last year this time,” said Van der Merwe.

This is how much consumers are currently paying for potatoes at different retailers:

Shoprite

At Shoprite, R54.99 can get you a 10kg pack of medium sized potatoes, which is the cheapest option among the compared items. This price is just R20.99 more than the farmgate price and is even R13 less than the Potato SA recommended price.

It also has a 10kg brown paper bag of potatoes. Those are priced at R74.99, which translates to R40.99 more than the farmgate price, and about R7 more than Potato SA’s recommended price.

Just Fruit & Veg

Just Fruit & Veg consumers are paying R109 for 10kg. Put against Potatoes SA’s recommendations, that is a staggering R41 more or a 38% difference.

Fairfield Meat Centre

Fairfield Meat Centre offers a 10kg bag of potatoes for R60, which is R8 cheaper than the recommended price and R26 more than farmgate.