Castile and Leon's potato harvest is in its early stages. Supply is higher than last year, and prices are tighter, after three years of historically high prices, which could boost fresh consumption in households.
"We are starting with Castile and Leon's potato season, the one with the highest volumes, and ending with that of Albacete and Extremadura, with some residual batches of early Murcian and Andalusian potatoes," stated Alfonso Sáenz de Cámara, manager of the Udapa Alava cooperative and president of the Fepex's Potato Sector. "Alava's harvest will start around mid-August this year, a little later than usual because the sowing was delayed by bad weather," he added.
Castile and Leon will have approximately 19,000 hectares of potatoes this year, 12% more than last year. Harvest forecasts are good, despite the heat, and the sector expects good yields and quality, Sáenz de Cámara stated.
Prices have been high for the earliest potatoes, but they have adjusted in recent weeks. "Prices were high since 2022 and now they are rather normal," he added.
"Nowadays, prices are no longer decided by the fresh market players. The processing industry has more and more weight in the sector, and this generally influences the potato market. In March, different European companies in the processing industry said they would no longer need potatoes, which played an important role in the drop in prices," Sáenz de Cámara said.
"Spain's potato consumption has fallen more than usual since mid-June. This decrease coincides with the school holiday period when household consumption tends to decrease, but this year we have noticed it more. Thus, we find a lower demand and a somewhat higher supply of potatoes in Castile and Leon," Sáenz de Cámara stated.
According to Sáenz, the very high prices of Murcia's early potatoes and the crop losses in Andalusia did not provide good export opportunities. This year, exports have been more difficult than in previous years, he said.
"The price of Spanish early potatoes was high, and there have been higher stocks of old potatoes in Europe. Up until the end of June, there were still lots of old French potatoes in wholesale markets, mainly targeting the traditional retail and Horeca channels. Another factor to take into account is that Spain imported 41,000 tons of potatoes from Israel between January and April, a much higher volume than the 28,000 tons we imported in all of last season."
"We hope that moderate potato prices will boost fresh consumption after three years in which we have not had large productions due to the effects of the drought of 2022, which considerably reduced production for consumption and seed potato production; a determining factor in the 2023 harvest and, in part, even the 2024 harvest," he stressed. "I believe that one of the sector's greatest challenges lies in being more united to promote potato consumption, which is why I am calling on the sector to get down to work," he stated.
Udapa expects to handle more than 100,000 tons of potatoes in 2025, compared to the 94,000 tons it handled in 2024. The company, a major supplier of the processing industry, will distribute its fresh and V range products to the national market, Portugal, and other European countries.
For more information:
UDAPA
Paduleta 1, Pol. Ind. de Júndiz
01015 Vitoria-Gasteiz (Spain)
Email: [email protected]
https://udapa.com
