The UK sweet potato market seems to be levelling out again after a period of heavy supply over the last few months.
Ian Crispin from Pacific Produce said that there has been a lot of Egyptian and Spanish sweet potatoes in the market place with mixed quality, some good, some not so good.
“Spanish supply which has been good quality in recent years was not so great this year and Egyptian quality was mixed, with some growers sending some really good quality product, whilst others were not so clean on arrival. Prices dropped from a high of around £11 per box for L1/L2 6kg at the start of the summer, to £5 per box, or even £4 in some cases. US sweet potato volumes should be back to normal this year and they have gotten the harvest in before the cold weather, but we won’t really know until the Thanksgiving holiday is over and people are back at work and assessing their stocks after the holiday sales. USA are already arriving in Europe for the last month or so, priced at around £6 a box, so they are definitely lifting the market again now the northern hemisphere production is tailing out.”
Pacific Produce import the majority of their sweet potatoes from Honduras and although the new season produce won’t arrive till January, Ian said it looks like being a normal season with good quality and sizes, so they are looking forward to picking up the usual repeat sales on this premium item from its loyal following of customers.
For more information:
Ian Crispin
Pacific Produce
Ian@pacificproduce.co.uk