“The potato market has been hit very hard by the corona crisis. The chip factories are running less and the restaurants are closed, which means that less chips and other potato products are being consumed. All in all, it can be said that the market is in a downturn," says Johan Kant of Kalisa Trading. In addition, some of the potatoes have not been harvested due to the wet weather recently.
“Some of the potatoes in France, Belgium and Zeeland are not harvested. 10 to 20 percent of these potatoes are still in the ground, depending on the region we will still have enough potatoes. Even without these potatoes, we will reach our five-year average and we do not expect any shortages. Still, I expect these potatoes to be harvested. When everything is out of the ground, the potatoes are no longer worth anything but as feed potatoes. Prices are already at a very low level of 20-30 euros. If the remaining potatoes are to be lifted into the ground, prices will only fall further,” Johan thinks.
Kant has once experienced such a dramatic year when everything in the Netherlands was under water. “I still remember it well. In the Netherlands everything was under water and then we got frost, almost everything was frozen and prices shot up. We had to buy up everything in France to supply potatoes to the Netherlands. What a dramatic year that was. But this year we have the coronavirus that is killing everything and the worst part is that we don't know how much longer we will be dealing with the virus. Let's hope that the market can recover in one way or another, because potatoes can go in all directions, you cannot estimate them. ”
For more information:
Johan Kant
Kalisa Trading
Entrepotstraat 35
9100 Sint-Niklaas
+32 (0) 37 65 07 65
Johan.kant@kalisatrading.be