Many potatoes still in the ground

Due to the wet weather a large amount of potatoes are still in the ground. According to a Belgian trader around 7,000 hectares still has to be harvested in Belgium, and around 5,000 hectares in France. Now the question is: Will they get them out? And how will they do it? "The ground is still wet. If you look at the average of 40 tonnes per hectare, then it's a lot of potatoes."

Limited demand from Russia, England continues to buy

"Due to the smaller volumes the potato prices are still at a high level. The high prices limit the shipments to Russia, the export isn't going smoothly. They don't want standard quality, but different varieties, that they don't have locally. They are even more expensive and limited amounts are heading over." According to the trader England is the largest demanding market at the moment. "England continues to buy, but you can only send the best quality there. They mainly go to packagers for distribution and the chip-suitable ones to the fish and chips industry. They expected Russia to enter the market early, with large volumes, this year, but this probably won't be the case until mid December."

"The are also other countries with demand, but they have to cover themselves elsewhere. I expect the demand to come here in the long term. The season has just started." The trader expects the prices not to decrease in the near future, and the demand to increase. "A further increase in price isn't impossible. We now have to wait and see if the volumes can be harvested."