UK: 50% increase in sweet potato demand year on year
Sweet potatoes are mainly imported from the States, but production there is struggling to keep up with demand, both from the domestic market and export. Spain has shown a good increase in production, comparability the the biggest increase of all the producers while Portugal is just starting to get into the game. Egypt is starting to supply some good varieties for export rather than the traditional ones favoured domestically. In South America, Honduras has a couple of good growers but, according to the trader, the rest are struggling to meet demand and certification requirements.
The American Covington and the Spanish Beauregrad varieties take around 95% of market, although the Covington is owned by University of North Carolina, so cannot be grown commercially outside of the US. Other newer varieties include Evangeline.
In the UK sweet potato price are pretty stable as it is not a price sensitive product line and prices remain reasonably static and at reasonable levels explains the trader.
The UK does have some domestic production but according to the trader at the moment it is tokenism, "Whether it will develop into full blown production with large volumes I just don't know, climate /soil types and geography are all factors. We are not in an ideal production area, but you never know with product development for more temperate regions and with global warming obviously the areas which can grow successfully moves higher and higher in latitude as average temperatures rise."