Irish retail demand and consumption of potatoes remain buoyant and should escalate significantly as Christmas approaches. Some progress was made in terms of lifting over the past week, however, the saleable yield of potatoes in store will be very difficult to estimate. This year’s yield dig figures are now published and the results show that both Rooster and Kerr’s Pink yielded lower than the 5 year average and had the lowest since 2020 when they were significantly affected by drought conditions. The figures do not take into account field losses or areas that could not be harvested due to waterlogging. This will inevitably result in a further reduction in the availability of marketable quantities of both Rooster and Kerr’s Pink for the remainder of the season
In Europe, heavier than expected rainfall has brought lifting to a halt in many regions again. It is estimated that approximately 12 to 15% of the crop in Holland and 10%+ of the crop in Belgium is still in the ground. Temperatures are forecast to drop to minus 3 to 4 degrees over the next week putting a big question mark over the quality of the remaining crop. World Potato Markets reports that there are about 1.4 million tonnes of potatoes still in the ground which represents 6% of the potential crop.
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