The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reports that the European production of potatoes in 2014 amounted to about 123 million tonnes. Eastern European countries were responsible for more than 60% of this total, with Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Belarus and Romania on the list of top 10 European producers. Nevertheless, only about 0.2% of total production volumes actually ended up being processed, frozen and sold to consumers in Eastern Europe.
By Joana Sokolnik, Research Analyst at Euromonitor International
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reports that the European production of potatoes in 2014 amounted to about 123 million tonnes. Eastern European countries were responsible for more than 60% of this total, with Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Belarus and Romania on the list of top 10 European producers. Nevertheless, only about 0.2% of total production volumes actually ended up being processed, frozen and sold to consumers in Eastern Europe.
According to Euromonitor International, global retail value sales of frozen processed potatoes reached more than EUR6.7 billion (current prices) in 2015, with 79% of this total accounted for by Western Europe and North America, while Eastern Europe was responsible only for a 3% share of total world sales. The disparity in sales of frozen potatoes is fairly well illustrated by the differences in per capita consumption indicators across the regions.
For example, in 2015, on average, an inhabitant of We...