Russia is being gripped by a potato crisis.

The price Russians pay for them has jumped to a record, climbing nearly 50% this year alone to mark the biggest increase of any tracked food, according to the Federal Statistics Service. That follows an almost doubling in prices in 2024 amid poor harvests. 

That’s compounding food inflation and is more bad news for consumers. President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that inflation, which nearly topped 10% last year, is one of the few concerns he holds for the country’s economy, and in January called on authorities to react to the accelerated price gains.

With potatoes one of the nation’s most popular vegetables — Russia ranks among the world’s top dozen consumers of potatoes —  households will feel the pinch. Prices in supermarkets have been even higher than what national statistics data show, topping 100 rubles ($1.20) a kilogram.

Globally, the World Bank expects food commodity prices to drop this year, providing some relief to shoppers. But consumers are often rattled by surging prices of staple foods that they take for granted, putting more pressure on governments to intervene.

For example, Americans were gripped by an egg crisis earlier this year, leading President Donald Trump to step in and to promise to boost imports. In Japan, high rice prices prompted the government to tap emergency stockpiles.

Moscow is trying to cool the rally in potato prices and improve the local supply picture. The government in January authorized duty-free imports of up to 150,000 tons, waiving the usual 5% import fee. China has also been shipping more, along with more established exporters.

Agriculture Minister Oksana Lut had some words of comfort for consumers this week.

“We’ll see potato prices starting to fall,” she said in an interview posted on Telegram. “In July, we’ll start harvesting our early potatoes, plus we have deliveries of Egyptian potatoes and Uzbek potatoes.”

Still, potatoes are a thirsty crop, so harvests will also be at the mercy of the weather.

—Yuliya Fedorinova in Dubai

Charted Territory

China’s canola hunt | Chinese traders are scouring the globe for alternative sources of rapeseed, as tensions with Canada, their top supplier, risk choking imports of a key ingredient in animal feed. Buyers have tapped exporters in Australia and India, according to people familiar with the matter, in a bid to replace Canadian purchases, which are subject to either tariffs or the threat of measures due to worsening trade relations between Beijing and Ottawa. (Read the full story here.)

This Week’s Must Reads

• Beijing signed a letter of intent with exporters in Argentina to buy about $900 million of soybeans, corn and vegetable oil, the latest indication that the Asian nation will avoid sourcing from the US during President Donald Trump’s trade war.
• Wheat supplies are expected to remain tight in the new season, leaving the market vulnerable to higher prices if weather worsens in key growers before the approaching harvest.
• Bloomberg Opinion writes how the lack of regular, clear communication from the Trump administration on the bird flu outbreak has made it unnervingly difficult to answer a basic question: Where, exactly, do things stand with H5N1?
• Indonesia is set to stop importing rice this year for the first time in decades, thanks to surging production and stockpiles in one of the world’s top growers of the staple. 
• The UK removed tariffs on some US agricultural products as part of a trade deal that President Trump pitched as a historic achievement. Still, strict regulations on food standards have remained in place.

What questions do you have about the UK-US trade deal? Join us for a Live Q&A today at 9 a.m. EDT/2 p.m. BST.

On the Bloomberg Terminal

• Food producers may need to offer more promotions to consumers to fuel a recovery in sales volumes, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. 
• Bloomberg Government reports how sidelined farm aid programs are adding to US agricultural struggles.
• For Bloomberg Economics trade analysis: BECO MODELS TRADE
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