Seed Potato Price paid to Dutch HZPC farmers exceeds 30 euros

HZPC Holland B.V., a leading potato breeding company sets the final price for harvest 2015 for its Dutch seed potato pool at € 30,28 per 100 kilo.

This final seed potato price is 2.6% higher than the forecasted price of € 29.50 that was published in March.

Gerard Backx, CEO of HZPC:

“Crop 2015 is characterized by the high yields. Compared to previous years, there were a lot of seed potatoes available. We are pleased to be able to announce that we sold a record quantity of these seed potatoes from the Dutch pool.”

“The previous record sales volume was for Crop 2010, but current year’s volume of seed potatoes sold from the pool is 3% higher. Crop 2010 was somewhat comparable to the current season, with high yields per hectares and a favourable market. But for Crop 2015 the international market was certainly less willing than in 2010. Examples are the import limitations in Algeria because of the low oil prices, and the limited sales to Russia, due to the low ware potato prices in combination with the low rate of the rouble.

“Last year the European market for seed potatoes was very limited because of the low prices for ware potatoes. This season the European market has recovered to a demand of a regular size.”

Explanation of the price

The average yield for HZPC-growers in the Dutch pool is with 42.9 tonnes per hectare considerably higher than the average of the previous years. An average of 18.9% of the yield is top of seed; for these sizes the fees are lower.

The average price of all the varieties for the seed potatoes in class E based on delivery in autumn, is € 29.66 per 100 kilo before the deduction of the breeders fee and excluding VAT. Growers deliver classes S to A.

The average price of all these classes is € 30.28, because relatively more seed potatoes are grown and delivered in the higher classes and the prices are higher for these classes.

In addition to the growers price, the growers receive fees for storage and bagging the potatoes. These fees are not included in the prices above.

Europe outside The Netherlands

Around this time of the year, HZPC will also determine the seed potatoes prices for the growers in the other HZPC production areas within Europe.

The conditions for these prices are different from the prices in The Netherlands. But the recovering European market also has a positive influence on the payments to the European HZPC-growers outside The Netherlands.