The potato market has been slightly quieter as of late but this is typical for the time of year. Old season packing quality material continues to tighten further with the majority of growers reporting empty stores for the past number of weeks. Some liftings of early maincrop Rooster have commenced this week although it will be another couple of weeks before any significant volumes are available. The Queen market remains buoyant as liftings finish in more parts of the country. The peeling trade continues to prosper as the holiday season continues. Prices above €220 a tonne being quoted.
Across Europe, supply and demand is described as generally balanced. There are some encouraging signs this week that volumes are at last starting to return pre-pandemic levels. Buyers are still mostly using old crop but there will be more new crop Whites in the markets next week as well as the first new crop Reds.
In the U.K. old crop is now moving with much more confidence and some contacts report some good volume trade including sales to peelers in the U.K and Ireland.
Source: IFA