If you compare the stock inventory for ware potatoes from mid-February by the arable farming organization VTA with last season, you will come to a remarkable conclusion. An image that we have come across several times this year. Three conclusions that we can draw from the figures of VTA.
Three times a season, VTA gauges the potato supply among a permanent group of members. The second poll took place on February 15. A third round will follow in April. The outcome is hardly surprising. The free stock is lower than previous seasons; A total of 14,5 percent lower. Fewer potatoes were delivered due to lower hectare yields. However, the total stock is higher than the five-year average. A remarkable situation.
1. Alternative product
The potato processing industry processed a total of 2016 tons of product in September 324.300 and 333.000 tons in October. Respectively 9.000 tons and 15.000 tons less than was the case a year earlier. This may be why the storage areas are fuller in mid-February. Factories have also processed potatoes from other channels. Import from Poland, the United Kingdom or starch potatoes. By mid-February, almost 40 percent of the harvest had been delivered, according to VTA. In previous seasons this was an average of 50 percent. A sign that buyers may be hoarding to keep up with the new harvest. In absolute tonnes, 20 percent less was delivered. VTA attributes this to a lower yield per hectare. Yet the stock in tonnes is almost 5 percent higher than the five-year average.
2. Free product scarce
67 percent of the stock of potatoes still in storage has been sold. This brings the free stock almost 6 percent below the level of February 2016 and 14,5 percent below the five-year average. This is partly due to a lower yield and partly because there are simply fewer free potatoes being grown. Free product is robbery.
3. Similarity between Belgium and France
Also striking is the similarity with the most recent stock measurements taken in Belgium en France has been done. The measurement in Belgium showed a higher absolute stock on February 1, but less free product. Around the same date, a significantly lower free stock was measured among French potato growers. And there too, a higher total stock, as UNPT calculated. Particularly in Belgium and France, there was little or no harvest due to drought in September and October. An explanation for the current picture in storage is that processors have tapped into alternative raw material sources during this period, which means that stocks are now higher.