Large potato production for Poland this year

Poland is set for a large potato production this season; with large volumes good quality and low prices. However, the weather conditions in some areas of the country have been more difficult recently, with a lot of rainfall in the northern and western regions of Poland which might have some negative impact on yields and the quality of potatoes.

The official production figures will not be published before the harvesting finishes.

"Prices are stable, although the Polish market is highly competitive at the beginning of the season, where the price can change very quickly. New potatoes are still the only domestic potatoes on the market at the moment, but the set skin potatoes will start in around 2 weeks, followed by loose skin potatoes and washed in 2 weeks from now. The most commonly grown new potato varieties are Riviera, Lord, Denar and Volumia, Colomba and Anuschka." shared Łukasz Ostrowicz from Bugaj Sp. z.o.o

"There have been some queries from the foreign companies about the potatoes for the french fries industry. However, it is still too early for the growers to be ready with this material."

This last week was a national holiday in Poland so the market has been slow and will pick up again at the beginning of September, once everyone is back at work and school after the summer holidays.

The EU ban on the free export of Polish (raw) potatoes to the EU, remains an issue that growers would like to resolve and there has been a recent proposal that a starting point to releasing the ban would be to only allow grower's who have not had the Potato Wart Disease in the past 3 years, and have proven to have used qualified seed material, to be able to export.

"There was a huge push from all potato growers last year to band together and work on lifting the ban when there was a shortage of potatoes in Western Europe, but I've noticed that there have been fewer people actively pursuing the issue this year, now that there appears to be enough potatoes to cover the market. I think that this is a shame and I hope that growers continue to collaborate to ensure that we continue to move forward."

This coming 25th and 26th of August, will bring the 24th annual National Potato days in Poland, organised by IHAR Bonin, HR Kalinowa and the National Potato Association.

"Although this is far from the first year for the event, this year has brought tremendous changes. Firstly, the event will be much larger, with all of the major company's in the industry taking part. This year, seed companies will show their potato trials on the terrain, which will be harvested during the event."

For more information:
Łukasz Ostrowicz
BUGAJ Sp. z o.o.
Tel: +48 698 678 536
Email: lukasz.ostrowicz@fhbugaj.pl
krajowedniziemniaka.pl