News on Potato Stats, Trade, Prices from Belgium

El país suramericano quiere aplicar impuestos contra las papas fritas de Bélgica, Países Bajos y Alemania.

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).

In this interview, Marc Van Herreweghe, the new Chairman of Belgapom and CEO of Mydibel, discusses the challenges this Belgian Potato Association faces going forward, as well as sustainability issues and problems related to recent weather conditions.

The warm and dry weather of recent months has caused a commotion in the potato sector in Northern Europe. This is why representatives of both the Dutch and Belgian potato sectors came together to discuss the situation and to voice their concerns.

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.

Total potato production in North-western Europe will be mostly determined by yield, as extreme drought plagues the crop, growing on a one percent larger acreage

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.

The European Potato Trade Association Europatat elected a new board yesterday. Gilles Fontaine was appointed President for the next three-years

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 record year of 2016 for the Belgian potato processing industry continued into 2017, according to Belgapom, the Belgian potato trade and processing industry association.

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

Europatat, the European Potato Trade Association, has confirmed the dates for its annual Europatat Congress. Under the slogan “Potatoes: a healthy, sustainable and responsible sector”, the 2018 Congress will focus on sustainability.

Although the full harvest is not in the stores yet, the North-Western European Potato Growers (NEPG) estimates the actual harvest at 28.9 million tons for the 5 countries. This is more than the estimate of last September.

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.

Last week on 15 & 16 June, the Europatat Congress 2017 took place. Feedback on the congress and side events has been extremely positive.

The organizers of the Europatat 2017 Congress in Antwerp from 15 to 17 June announce the addition of a number of high level speakers to the programme