The Food Corporation of Bhutan Limited or FCB’s office in Samdrup Jongkhar struggled to auction potatoes yesterday. This is because the bidders could not meet the FCB’s base price during the online auction. However, after much negotiation, they were able to sell all the potatoes today. The FCB started conducting potato auctions online this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Two truckloads of potatoes arrived at the Samdrup Jongkhar auction yard from Monggar yesterday. During the auction, FCB officials upload the picture of potatoes on the WhatsApp group and let bidders bid on the price.
However, the FCB officials could not negotiate the base price. FCB’s base price was fixed at Nu 25.5 per kilogram for big potatoes but the bidders quoted up to Nu 24 a kilogram.
“This time potatoes market will be less compared to the last season because in India there are a lot of potatoes coming out as they have already stock in cold store and new harvest is also coming up from the market. So this time the rate of potatoes will be less,” said Sawdev Koirala, the complex manager of Samdrup Jongkhar FCB office.
After much negotiations, the FCB brought down the base price to Nu 23.5 for bigger potatoes and sold it for Nu 25 a kilogram today. The office was also able to sell all the two truckloads of potatoes.
The implementation of the online auction has helped farmers auction potatoes from six eastern to Samdrup Jongkhar without having to travel to the auction yard. FCB visits villages to buy potatoes from the farmers.
According to FCB’s data, potatoes worth 31 million Ngultrum were exported to India from Samdrup Jongkhar auction yard last year.
Kinley Wangchuk, Samdrup Jongkhar
Edited by Sonam Pem
