The sweet potato season is currently in full swing, as far as Egyptian sweet potatoes go. "We have a good outlet for this towards our customers. We are working closely with our partners on this. It's a pretty tough market, but together we are making sure to get the sweet potatoes packaged and sold within our programs," Spot commercial manager Nick Bakelaar says. "As it looks now, we will be able to continue through March with our sweet potatoes from Egypt."
"In addition to this, we are already fully engaged with our US growers, where we are also visiting now," Nick continued. "What is clear is that we are expecting about 20% less due to fewer plantings. Because of this, we are working with our growers so that we can make sure that we can start fulfilling all of our programs. The crop itself is looking very good and the size distribution is average, so there will not be a surplus or shortage of any particular size. In addition, local demand is very good at the moment, which means higher prices for the export market. We do expect due to the fact that there are fewer potatoes it will be a short season from the US, where planning is key and we don't fall short anywhere."
"Furthermore, we are also already planning with our Argentine and South African growers so that we can fill the expected gap in the summer. Here the plants are currently growing and we expect to start harvesting in April. So for now, we are working hard to get enough potatoes in the ground so we won't have a shortage later," Nick said. "We are also focusing on the market for organic, white and purple-fleshed sweet potatoes. This is still quite a niche market, where we believe we can position ourselves even better."
For more information:
Nick Bakelaar
Spot
ABC Westland 128
2685 DB Poeldijk
Tel: +31 (0)174 47 9232
Email: nick@spot.farm
www.spot.farm