Potato Production (food) in the Netherlands up 27 percent, exceeds 4 million tonnes

Earlier today Statistics Netherlands (CBS) published its latest update of the potato harvest of 2017 in the Netherlands.

Total production of potatoes for consumption for the first time since 2000 exceeded 4 million tonnes, an increase of 27 percent compared to 2016!

Statistics Netherlands (Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek, CBS) estimates the total production of potatoes for consumption - this excludes seed potatoes and potatoes grown for use in the potato starch industry - at just over 4 million tonnes (4.012 million tonnes).

This is an increase of 27 percent compared to harvest 2016, when 3.16 million ton of potatoes for consumption was produced.

The jump in production compared to last year looks much less dramatic when seen in a multi-year sequence, since last year represented the lowest production of potatoes for consumption in a decade.

The increased production is the result of a combined increase of acreage and an increase in yield/hectare. The (planted) acreage increased 4.0 percent from 73.321 to 76.243 hectares.The yield per hectare increased 18 percent, from 45.7 ton/hectare to 52.6 ton/hectare.

To put the dutch potato production in context, we also recommend a comparison with the estimates made earlier in the season by the North-western European potato growers.

When looking at the total of potatoes produced, including seed potatoes and potatoes for starch production, the potato production is up 14% to 7.44 million ton (2017) from 6.53 million tonnes (2016). Yield per hectare increased percent to 45.7 ton/hectare (2017) from 42 ton/hectare in 2016.