Potato market: little demand, but high prices

It's a strange situation on the potato market at the moment. Presently there isn't a lot of demand a…

It's a strange situation on the potato market at the moment. Presently there isn't a lot of demand and not much supply either. Growers have postponed the harvest a little, so there aren't large volumes yet. The supply of skin solid varieties suitable for export is still relatively limited," says Jurgen Duthoo of Bart's Potato Company.

Postponing the harvest
He indicated that growers are trying to postpone the harvest after the dry summer. "They aren't spraying the potatoes to kill them yet, in the hopes that there will be more kilos. After spraying growers still have to wait around 10 days to harvest. This stream of skin solid potatoes will get going at the end of September. Then most will go into the barn. Of course we have to wait until the volumes are stored, but we think we will have a normal average harvest this year."

Export opportunities
As far as export is concerned he certainly sees chances. "When it comes to Eastern and Southern Europe there will be opportunities. It will depend on what the price is. Areas like Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary have had a very dry warm summer. There is already a clear signal coming from those markets that there will be demand in the winter."