The Bengal government will not allow the supply of potatoes outside the state until retail prices stabilise below Rs 30 a kg despite pressure from traders and neighbouring states.

Becharam Manna, the state agricultural marketing minister, said Bengal would consider the demand to resume interstate trade only after the market stabilises.

"The price of potatoes is still higher than the usual rate. Though we know about the demand for potatoes supplied to neighbouring states, our priority is to bring down potato prices below Rs 30 a kg in the retail market. We will review the situation on Monday," said Manna.

On Sunday, the retail price of the Jyoti variety of potato stood at Rs 35-38 a kg and the Chandramukhi variety at Rs 40-45 a kg in various retail markets in the state. Although the state government has been selling potatoes at Rs 29 per kg from its 590 Sufal Bangla stalls run by Manna's department, it is not enough to cater to crores of consumers.

Since potato prices skyrocketed in the retail market earlier this month, the state government banned the sale of the vegetable to Assam, Jharkhand and Odisha. Those states, along with Chhattisgarh and Bihar, depend on potatoes from Bengal.

Bengal produces around 100-110 lakh tonnes of potatoes annually in districts such as Hooghly, Bankura, Birbhum, East Burdwan in the south and Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar, and North Dinajpur in the north. Bengal has a consumption requirement of five lakh tonnes of potatoes every month. The state has a stock of around 40 lakh tonnes of potatoes in around 465 cold stores.

Following the ban, the neighbouring states are facing a shortfall of potatoes in their local markets. A source said Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi, on the sidelines of the NITI Ayog meeting on Saturday, requested his Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee's intervention to resolve the issue.

Paschim Banga Pragatishil Aloo Byabosayee Samity, the organisation of potato traders in Bengal, had called an indefinite strike from July 22 against the state's ban on interstate sale of the vegetable. However, they called off the strike within three days following a meeting headed by Manna who assured them to look into their demand.

"There is no crisis of potatoes in Bengal as the state can't solely consume what it produces annually. Every year we supply potatoes to nearby states. However, the state government is continuing to ban our trade outside Bengal. We will wait for one or two more days and then hold a meeting to discuss our next course of action," said Laloo Mukherjee, secretary of the potato traders' organisation.

Bibhas Roy, an adviser to the association, said the potatoes sold in other states were of a different variety and not consumed by Bengal customers.

A senior agricultural marketing department official said there was no proof of what type of potatoes were being sold outside Bengal. "Is it possible to check every truck or bag of potatoes to see whether they are of a particular variety? Potato prices shot up to Rs 50 per kg, and now they have been brought down to Rs 35. We hope the market will stabilise within two-three days and we will resume sales outside Bengal," he said.