News on Potato Stats, Trade, Prices from United Kingdom

Retail demand and consumption is improving this week and should continue to do so upon the return of schools this week following the summer break.

Hear from National Farmers' Union (NFU) Potato Policy Group chair Tim Rooke in the aftermath of one of the most challenging lifting seasons he has faced.

Jersey Potato exporters were able to negotiate a better price from UK supermarkets this year to help cover rising costs but blight and poor weather meant it was still a difficult season.

Gordon MP Richard Thomson has welcomed confirmation from DEFRA that exports of seed potatoes from Scotland to Northern Ireland can restart from September 30, but has reacted with disbelief that the UK Government hasn’t raised the issue of exports to the EU since March.

The UK potato sector has been going through a better spell this year, but it did take a long time for the potato shortage to feed back to growers as there was still crop from the previous year on the market and the prices didn’t increase until around mid-May.

Agristo is now a good 2 years into the finalization of Brexit. The French Fry company can look back up to this day and safely say Agristo has done everything to uphold one of its core values, which is to service and unburden their clients in any way possible.

Farmers have been left outraged as Sainsbury’s, among other UK supermarkets, discounted the price of potatoes in the run-up to Christmas to 'less than the cost of production'.

Gordon MP Richard Thomson has again called on the UK Government to get a deal in place that would see the resumption of exports of Scottish seed potatoes to the EU and Northern Ireland.

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, potato markets have been somewhat resistant with uncertainty expected for the coming recent weeks, North-Western European Potato Growers (NEPG) says in a news release.

Potato industry leaders in Great Britain who are driving forward proposals for a new representative organization funded by voluntary subscriptions say they have a 'clear mandate' to make plans for the next stage.

On 9 December, the European Parliament will hold a public hearing on 'the impact of Brexit on European agricultural markets'. Europatat would like to use this opportunity to highlight the impact of no agreement on their sector.

NFU Scotland vice president Andrew Connon has described the post-Brexit cessation of seed exports to Europe as 'purely political and totally unacceptable'.

A trade row between Brussels and London threatened to erupt tonight after UK ministers banned the import of seed potatoes from EU countries in a victory for Scottish farmers.

HMRC has now released trade data covering up to the end of February 2021. In January, after the end of the transition period to leave the European Union (EU), we saw some teething issues in exports. Did these continue into February?

A ballot to decide the future of the AHDB Potato levy has concluded and the voting report has been passed to Ministers for a decision on what happens next.

As the first month of import and export data of potatoes and potato products after Brexit is in, the AHDB takes a closer look at the data and what they could mean. Across all potato product categories recorded, UK imports and exports have fallen from December with figures at the lowest reported this marketing season.

AHDB Head of Export Trade Development for Potatoes, Patrick Hughes spoke of the importance of the EU market to seed potato growers and how he was hoping for a rapid resolution to the prohibition on UK exports to the Continent.

The Scottish seed potato industry has harnessed willing buyers in Europe to support their efforts to get the European Commission to re-think its current ban on the importation of UK seed stocks – yet the chances of success remain 50/50.