Robert Doig from Caledonia Potatoes describes the potato business at the moment as a 'fair old mess'.
"It is amazing how quickly it can turn. 24 months ago, we saw very high prices, now certain categories of potatoes are practically unsaleable. In 2023, the market was high, and 2024 was good for most of the time, but in 2025 it started to fall."
According to Robert, this is not unusual in the potato industry, when the price is high one season, growers plant more the next year, which can easily cause oversupply. "The demand for potatoes is always pretty stable; they are a low-price commodity, so it is difficult for retailers to do promotions. The important thing is how much we plant for this season. If a grower only gets an order for 80% of what was contracted last year, will he plant 20% less? It is also very tempting for growers to plant a little bit more to ensure they can fulfil their contracts, but if every grower plants just 10% more, the market will be flooded. Another downside of too much supply is that buyers can afford to be more strict on the specs as they can source potatoes from other growers, whereas if supply is tight, there is more leeway."
Planting at Caledonia Potatoes will not start until 13th April, and Robert said he will be planting less this year.
Seed exports
There has been talk of a difficult Egyptian market for 2025's seed potatoes, and certainly, prices were quite a bit lower than in previous years, but according to Robert, he has not had any problems in this market.
"We were lucky as our quality was very good; the problem with the Egyptian market is that they want free market varieties that anyone can grow."
Increasing input costs
As with most areas of agriculture, the potato sector is also feeling the effect of the war in the Middle East, especially as it comes just as growers start to plan this year's crop.
"It feels a bit like the Ukraine war starting all over again," said Robert. "The timing is very bad, we use more diesel at planting time, and we will soon have to renew our electricity contract. We do have enough fertilizer for our 2026 season, but the problems will start when we order for next season. I reckon the increase in cost for a medium-sized potato grower will be between 10s of thousands of pounds to possibly 100s of thousands in some cases."
For more information:
Robert Doig
Caledonian Potatoes
Tel: +44 1738 446 723
[email protected]
www.caledoniapotatoes.com
