News on Potato Stats, Trade, Prices from Belgium

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

During the last weeks, free buy prices from different North-western European quotations have dramatically fallen, no longer allowing to cover production costs. North-western European Potato growers (NEPG) respond.

The European seed potato industry has a long history of producing and supplying high-quality planting material to European and overseas growers.

The last 4 months was not easy going for the potato production in the NEPG region. But despite the difficult weather conditions, first yield estimates suggest a return to multi-year averages, with an estimated harvest of around 23 million tonnes of potatoes.

The North-western European Potato Growers (NEPG) estimate the area of ware potatoes has increased by 2 to 3%. This is slightly higher than the record in 2020, when it was 522.000 ha for the EU-4 (NL, BE, DE, FR).

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

Arbitrators have in substance ruled in favour of the EU in the first WTO appeal dealt with under the ‘Multi-party interim appeal arbitration arrangement', known as the ‘MPIA'.

During its last meeting on November 9, 2022, the NEPG estimated that the total potato production 2022 in the NEPG zone (EU-04) will be down by 6 % compared to last year.

As of the new storage potato season, the Belgapom price committee will note the most frequently used price for the trade in potatoes of the Fontane and Challenger varieties.

During its last meeting prior to Potato Europe 2022, the North-western European Potato Growers (NEPG) estimates that global potato production in the NEPG zone (EU-04) will be down by 7 to 11 %.

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…

There are plenty of potatoes coming from Spain at the moment. Everyone's busy with their main harvest, and this year's quality is exceptional, especially from the Seville region.

The European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development held an "Exchange of views on the disruption in the EU-GB trade in seed potatoes" to which Europatat was invited to speak.

Interpom 2021 is fast approaching – we are now on the home stretch! After a whole year of postponement, Interpom will finally be held on Sunday 28, Monday 29, and Tuesday 30 November 2021 in Kortrijk Xpo (B).

After more than 2 years, the first major international meeting platform for the potato chain will finally see the light of day: on Sunday 28, 29, and 30 November 2021, INTERPOM will be opening its doors in Kortrijk Xpo. At last, the potato professionals will be able to meet each other again!

North-western Europe will have had one of its most humid summers in the last decades! In some areas in Belgium and Western Germany, rainfall at mid-July was an absolute historic high.

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 total potato area within the NEPG zone (EU-04) has been reduced by 4,7%. Potato area in EU-04 declines from 522.300 ha to 497.700 ha (-24.600 ha). There was a decrease in all countries, but most in Belgium and the Netherlands.