Europlant smoothly through seed potato issues

While most seed potato trading companies have had an eventful season, Europlant in Heerenveen seemed to cycle through it quickly. That eventful season was partly due to changing import requirements in Algeria, growth cracks in important industrial varieties and shortages. "We had a great year with a lot of interest in our seed potatoes," director Jan Janse summarizes briefly.

The reason for escaping the troubles is that Europlant is not dependent on one specific market. 'Our sales are quite divided. We only trade in our own varieties and the share of our new chip varieties in the total is still relatively small. So the Spunta situation largely passed us by, although we did of course notice some of the price pressure on Spunta. That radiated through to other races.'

Nice demanding market
All in all, Janse notes good export figures. 'It was a nice demanding market. We were able to sell well in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium, but actually the entire European market (the most important sales market for us) performed well. Our varieties for the fresh market, export, chilled industry and re-export were in high demand.'

At a certain point, certain breeds became over-demanded. 'Alternatives have been supplied in close consultation with the customer. A large part of the harvest was sold as seed potatoes at good prices.' The share of oversized seed potatoes was 10,3 percent. 'Other years that number is often higher. It makes a difference that our varieties present themselves well; they are therefore also popular for consumption. In addition, demand was also good this year.' The oversized seed potatoes were settled with the growers at the daily price, an average of 17,35 euros per 100 kilos.

Expansion of market share
Monday June 12th Europlant the average payment price of the 2016 harvest is known. The price was 34,35 per 100 kilos, based on autumn delivery, all varieties, all seed potato sizes, collected loose, class A to S, before payment of licenses, excluding VAT. The average of all fees paid for storage and bagging is 2,88 euros per 100 kilos. This brings the average payout, including compensation, to 37,23 per 100 kilos.

Europlant will continue in the same vein for next season. 'Our sales in Europe are growing, especially in the Netherlands and Belgium. Export outside Europe is also developing well. We are expanding our chip varieties. Every year we grow a little in area and further expand our market share.'