Belarus price controls led to potato shortages, surging exports to Russia
Caused by self-proclaimed President Alexander Lukashenko’s insistence on strict price controls, Belarus endured a shortage of potatoes this spring, Politico reported on June 26.
Price restrictions imposed by Lukashenko in October 2022 were intended to curb inflation and lower food prices. Instead, they have left farmers with little incentive to grow potatoes, turning the once profitable crop into a losing proposition.
Critics say that the policies advanced by Lukashenko’s government suppressed potato production in 2024 and pushed many financially strapped farmers to sell their produce to Russia.
The report noted that as the production costs, potato prices lagged behind, further discouraging Belarusians from planting as many potatoes. In 2024, the country harvested 3.1 million tons of potatoes compared with more than 4 million tons the previous year.
Reporters learned that the price controls made exporting to Russia an attractive option. According to BEROC (Belarusian think-tank), in March potatoes in Russia were twice as expensive as in Belarus.
Belarus exported about 200,000 tons of potatoes to Russia in 2024, making it the primary supplier of the crop to its neighbor. Lukashenko himself urged farmers to produce enough potatoes to “feed both Minsk and Moscow.”
“We must help our Russian relatives; besides, we will profit handsomely,” he said in May.
Experts told Politico that because of the shortage, Belarus’s authorities temporarily banned the export of potatoes without licenses—including to Russia—beginning in December 2024. Many farmers sidesteps the ban by marking healthy potatoes as spoiled and continuing to supply them to Russia.
“The result of the turmoil: small, scarce, and at times rotting potatoes in Belarusian stores—a phenomenon that intensified in March and April,” the report concluded.
“This shows how Lukashenko and his administration can artificially create shortages of products that were once available in abundance.”
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