Belgium is the biggest producer of chips in the world. This can be seen from the annual report from Flevia, federation of the food industry. Every year Belgium converts 3.2 billion kilos of potatoes, from their own country and others, to chips.
According to Fevia Belgium has taken over the lead from the Netherlands. The reason is the competitive price and a product that is different that the long and thin chips from American fast food companies. In 10 years the amount of export countries has risen from 40 to almost 110.
The region Henegouwen has played an important role in this success. About 22000ha of potatoes is grown here and there are a lot of companies that process potatoes. In total there are about 900 people working in this sector.