Russia Starts Buying Potatoes From Mongolia www.charter97.org
Faced with a shortage and a sharp rise in potato prices, Russia for the first time resorted to buying "second bread" in Mongolia. In April-May, more than 4 thousand tons of potatoes were imported to Buryatia from the neighboring country, according to the "Baikal-Daily". Director of the local branch of Rosselkhozcenter Namzhil Mardvaev noted that the news left a "depressing impression," since potatoes have been grown in Buryatia for more than 300 years, while in Mongolia they began to do so only in the 1960s, and most productively in the 2000s. "Mongolians have been transporting all the potatoes from us for centuries," Mardvaev stressed.
But now, he said, potato cultivation in the neighboring country is at a different level compared to Russia. At the same time, in addition to new modern equipment, Mongolia uses a lot of old Soviet machines, which were exported including from Buryatia at the price of scrap metal. "And these guys, who started growing potatoes yesterday, are now selling them to us. Indeed, God works in mysterious ways," concluded the director of the local Rosselkhozcenter.
Published Date:2025-06-02