The European market for sweet potatoes has been strong for a while, and back in January we spoke to Ian Crispin from Pacific Produce, who said that 6kg sweet potatoes were already selling above £7/box on premium sizes.
The high price back then was due to a lack of American supply compared to a normal year, after adverse weather during the 2018 harvest period.
The product that was arriving from the US is starting to slow down dramatically now as we approach May, with the bigger suppliers focusing on their retail contracts, and a high local market in the US limiting export volumes, so the European open market will become even shorter.
"Premium size sweet potatoes are going for around £8 per box at the moment," explained Ian. "We have a consistent supply of high quality product from our partners in Honduras, most of which is pre-sold before it even arrives, and any that isn’t is sold within a few days."
Ian said normally you might see a slight decline in demand when the temperatures go up in the summer months, but the supply has been so short this year its unlikely to have an effect in 2019.
The market will begin to ease towards the beginning of September, when the norther hemisphere supply starts.
For more information:
Ian Crispin
Pacific Produce
Ian@pacificproduce.co.uk