European physical markets
Price summary (source: NEPG):
Belgium
Fiwap/PCA market message:
Industrial potatoes:
Little activity on the industrial markets. The demand is still waiting for the supply to pick up. Very little export activity, for price reasons mostly, but also because of a lack of return shipments.
Price for all comers, 35 mm+, min 60% 50 mm+, min 360g/5kg PSE, bulk, friable, departure, excl.VAT, direct delivery:
Bintje: 12.50–15.00 €/q, depending on wholesaler, quality and destination. Less active market “at the top of the range”;
Fontane: around 14.00 €/q, calm;
Challenger: around 14.00 €/q, little sustained;
Innovator: 15.00–16.00 €/q, stable.
Bintje plant: stable prices, little trade. Dutch plant, class A, returned March 2020, by 10 tons, in big-bags excl.VAT:
Caliber 28-35 mm: 54.00-57.00 €/q
Caliber 35–45 mm: 33.00-35.00 €/q
Forward market
EEX in Leipzig (€/q) Bintje, Agria and related var. for conversion, 40 mm+, min 60% 50 mm+:
Netherlands
Free trade is almost non-existent. The industry does not seem to need to complete its contracts until the end of February. Despite this “great calm”, quotations remain unchanged and the real transactions are between 14.50 and 16.50 €/q for direct delivery (40mm+) depending on the varieties (Fontane vs. Ramos or Innovator). Some trade for April is observed between 16.00 and 18.00 €/q. Export is slow, with some volumes between 12.00 and 15.00 €/q. Some volumes already sold still need to be shipped, but we expect a better demand from Eastern countries by the end of the season.
Quotation PotatoNL: also available on www.potatonl.com
France
Industrial production, bulk, departure, excl.VAT, Nord Seine, €/qt, min–max (moy)(RNM):
Firm prices. The industrial market is relatively calm and quotations have stabilized. Buyers are waiting. The demand on the free market is weak. The price range for Bintje is wider, while Innovator continues to benefit from better prices. Export is still quite slow, and prices are stable to low, especially for the red varieties.
Germany
As in the Netherlands and Belgium, the 2020-2021 contracts were lower at the beginning of the season (compared to last year), and higher from March. Experts from Chamber of Agriculture of Rhineland-Westphalia estimate that the costs, for storage in “week 20” (2nd week of May) will be up 1.40 €/q. Markets are firm, both for crates-pallets-fridge and friable varieties for the industry. On the fresh market, prices are still firm for firm flesh at 24,00 €/q (compared to 24.00 €/q), as well as for soft and mealy flesh at 22.25 €/q (compared to 22.25 €/q). For “crates-pallets-fridge”, prices are higher! Processing market: unchanged quotations for Fontane/Challenger at 13.75-14.25 €/q (13.75-14.25 €/q) and for Innovator at 16.00-16.50 €/q (16.00-16.50 €/q), which are particularly popular.
Stocks at the end of December: the volumes in stock on December 31st estimated at 3.70 million tons, which is 1 million tons more than last year, but only 145.000 tons more than the multi-year average.
Great Britain
Fresh retail market: sales are light, but prices are sustained, especially for the superior quality. Firm flesh varieties are between 33.60 and more than 40.00 €/q. Soft flesh varieties remain expensive, especially for large caliber batches, so preparers work the lower quality with reported reductions and refusals. Prices vary widely from 19.20 and 28.80 €/q. Wholesale market prices remain between 21.60 €/q for “all-around” varieties, and more than 28.00 €/q for friable varieties of good caliber/cooking, popular in trade. Some downward pressure on prices for the batches harvested late and batches whose quality deteriorates (cooking). The industry is buying between 12.00 and 19.20 €/q depending on variety/quality.
For more information:
FIWAP
www.fiwap.be