“Good demand for industrial potatoes”

“There is a tension in the potato market. On the one hand, cultivators do not want to ‘let go’ of their ‘regular’ table potatoes at too low a price for export, and on the other hand, importers do not want to pay too much for table potatoes. Price requests are being made by, for example, Romanian importers, but they give up when they hear what the prices are, and then they go to other countries, such as Germany and Eastern European countries, where the potatoes are much cheaper,” says Jurgen Duthoo from Bart’s Potato Company. “They are looking for the cheapest option and they will not find that with us.”

“Regarding potatoes suitable for the frozen industry, for chips processing, it is going very well, and the export too, good prices are given for those. There is definitely movement on the market for potatoes suitable for chips.”

Cultivators of table potatoes, which are therefore not suitable for industry, will continue to wait, according to Jurgen. “Some strains are also suitable for industry, but not all of them. It is unclear what will happen next. Cultivators do not want to drop their prices, but importers do not want to pay too much. The question is which party will hold out the longest. If you have to pay what cultivators are asking now, and then those potatoes have to packaged and shipped, you cannot get the potatoes sold for the export. There might possibly be a change on the market after the Fruit Logistica in Berlin. Everyone will have talked to everyone else, and there will be more insight into the market again. It has happened before that there was a shift after Fruit Logistica. We will therefore just have to wait and see.”