News on Potato Prices from Belgium

Tras polémicas decisiones por parte de los industriales, los precios de las patatas caen más del 10% repentinamente.

The first early potatoes have been lifted, causing downward price action in the European potato markets, according to Harry Campbell, market researcher at Expana.

The North-western European Potato Growers (NEPG) report on the potato market in the NEPG zone (France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany)

Mid-May, many potato growers in North-western Europe were hoping for an end of season with prices around EUR 30/100 kg, but rain brought a stop to that hope…

As of the new storage potato season, the Belgapom price committee will only note the most frequently used price for the trade-in potatoes of the Fontane variety.

The NEPG (North-Western European Potato Growers) have estimated that the overall consumption potato yields are on 5 years average level.

Due to COVID-19 the free market of potatoes has completely collapsed. The PCA/Fiwap and the Belgapom price quotation has been suspended because of a lack of transactions on the free market of potatoes.

Based upon a provisional estimation of the NEPG (North-Western European Potato Growers) the area in the 5 largest potato countries increased to 609.000 ha of consumption potatoes, a 2.4% increase.

The total potato harvest in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and France in 2018 will be at least 20 percent lower than last year, according to the latest estimates of the North-western European Potato Growers (NEPG).

The extreme heat and drought is a disaster for the upcoming potato harvest. And for processors too: in Belgium, potato chips manufacturer Roger&Roger (Croky) temporarily halts production of some its flavours to manage the lack of potato supply.

The NEPG (North-Western European Potato Growers) estimate that the growers in the 5 leading potato growing countries will plant 0,4% more potatoes than last year.

Organisations representing potato farmers in Belgium and France, have started a project (interreg-GEPOS) to look for alternative destinations for potatoes in Belgium and the North of France in seasons marked by large surpluses.

The North-Western European Potato Growers report on volume and condition of the potatoes still in storage

For the current European potato harvest, the North-western-European Potato Growers (NEPG) estimate the total potato production at 27.9 million tons for the five NEPG countries (Belgium, Germany, France, The Netherlands and Great Britain). This is up 13.5 percent compared to last season.

Op basis van proefrooiingen en praktijkresultaten verwacht de NEPG een totale oogst van 27,9 miljoen ton aan consumptieaardappelen in Noord-west Europa. Dat is 13,5% hoger dan vorig jaar.

The total consumption potato area in North-Western Europe, has been estimated at 578.821 ha, which is 4.6% more than last year and 8.3% more than the 5 years average, according to the NEPG.

Jan van Luchene of Bruwier Potatoes, a Belgian company specialized in acquiring and delivering the potatoes you need offers his view of the current potato market in Belgium and Europe.

As a result of the late potato harvest in the North-western European countries (BE, DE, FR, NL, UK), the potato growers organisation NEPG has decided to postpone publication of its annual yield estimates till the third week of November.