This week, the first early potatoes from the Dutch island of Tholen were auctioned by Alvantho. This year, the potatoes are actually early, because with the starting date of 28 May, auction manager David Hage even thought he had a record. However, a quick trip to the archives showed that the auction started on 26 May in 2011. That doesn’t mean that it isn’t special to start auctioning in the month of May. After the present traders looked at the supply, the first crate was, as is tradition, auctioned for charity, which was the ALS Foundation this time. Andries Quik of the eponymous potato company from Hedel paid 1,129 euro for the first clock sale. The auction will complement the amount up to 1,750 euro.
Andries Quik and the first crate of potatoes.
Despite the early start, growing circumstances were hardly optimal, Hage reminisces. “The first plots were planted on 18 February, and plastic was placed over them three weeks later, which was definitely useful after the cold and bleak weather. Early in May, the irrigation reels were taken out of storage as well, and they did their job well again. This worked very well, because in part due to these efforts, we managed to supply good batches of potatoes today.”
David Hage
“Looking back on the 2018 season, we could say it was a special year. From late May, we had a lot of tropical days with a considerable lack of precipitation. Despite the fact that the fresh water was much used on Tholen, we mostly had to deal with disappointing yields, although prices were decent enough. The financial results for most of the free growers weren’t disappointing either. As an auction, we actually couldn’t really profit from this. We had a late start in 2018, the first auction day was on 12 June. We therefore missed out on quite a bit of turnover, and supply wasn’t great in the month of July either, and prices at that time were actually quite ordinary. During the period when potatoes came straight from the fields, prices were good, but supply was severely lacking. So as an auction, we had a very mediocre year,” David Hage says.
“When the harvest was in storage in October 2018, it became clear fewer potatoes were available. That wasn’t just the case in the Netherlands, but also in the surrounding countries, such as Belgium, Germany, France and the UK. It promised to be a tense season, although it turned out not to be as bad as that. Yet we’re now noticing a bit of tension on the market. Hardly any free batches of old harvest are still available, the import started later as well, and availability is just ordinary. This is partly because there’s a lot of demand from local markets. We’re therefore convinced that our Alvantho potatoes, with their current quality, will sell to consumers quite well,” Hage concluded his opening speech.
For the first auction day, 900 crates of Doré, 1,200 crates of Frieslanders, 60 crates of Eigenheimer, 150 crates of Drieling and 40 crates of Kriel were supplied. The present buyers were positive about quality and size of the potatoes. The big question was naturally what prices would do, and according to the buyers, these were satisfying. “Good prices, not too high nor too low, so very sellable,” Carel Jansen of Jansen Aardappelen Op De Markt summed up the first auction.
In total, 54 tonnes were supplied. Below are the minimum and maximum prices of the auctioned varieties per 100 kilos:
Doré: 81.90 - 91.60
Première: 78.10 - 78.10
Frieslander: 72.90 - 80.70
Eigenheimer: 130.90 - 130.90
Drieling: 36.00 - 40.30
Kriel: 65.00 - 70.00
There will be another auction on Wednesday, but not on Thursday because that’s Ascension Day. There won’t be an auction on Friday either, although loading for orders is possible. As of next week, the auction will be a daily occurrence again.
The coming edition of Primeur will feature a photo report of the buyers who were present at the auction.
For more information:
Alvantho
David Hage
Langeweg 11
4697 ZG St. Annaland, the Netherlands
Tel: +31 166 65 24 50
Fax: +31 166 65 34 88
veiling.sa@alvantho.nl
www.alvantho.nl