"Moroccan and Israeli potato season started calmly"

At potato wholesaler Jac van den Oord from Ammerzoden the import of potatoes has slowly started. "Last year we received the first Moroccan potatoes in week 2 and now we didn't receive them until last week,"says Leon van den Oord. "Morocco is exporting a lot of potatoes straight to Russia at the moment, partially due to the Russian import ban on European potatoes, and this should keep the price high for a while."

Starting this week the potato wholesale will start the first winter crop from Israel. "Great stuff, we will be small packaging the new harvest for the first time starting next week," says Leon. "I've been hearing good things about the Israeli harvest so far, but the sales won't get going until the 'spring crop' and we don't know how that season will go."

Israeli potatoes of the variety Valor

According to the trader the demand for new potatoes still has to get going. "To be honest, it's pretty calm at the moment. The volumes are limited, the prices are high and the consumer isn't thinking about spring yet. At the end of March the harvest season of the new potatoes from the Mediterranean will start in larger volumes. Customers for the new harvest can always be found, among supermarkets, exporters and speciality stores."

For more information:
Leon van den Oord
Aardappelhandel Jac. van den Oord
Tel: 073-599 91 91
leon@jacvandenoord.nl
www.jacvandenoord.nl