Harvest tension is rising, but so is the price

As time passes, harvest tension slowly increases. With this week's rain and the weather forecast for next week, it appears that the clay areas will have to take into account a long and late harvest season.

Lots of rain in the north
Especially the areas where a lot of rain fell at the end of September seem to have had the most water again. North Holland, Friesland, the Flevopolder and Groningen in particular will still have to do a lot of work.

Harvesting is possible in Belgium, Northern France and Limburg/Brabant and the harvest is going well there. In percentage terms, they are not yet ahead of the other growing areas, but this is mainly due to the later spraying of the crops.

Continued growth beyond expectations
The regrowth in the southern areas is above expectations and is now literally above the ground during harvesting. However, large variations in owg (underwater weight) are reported, with plots that were sprayed with 360 owg now being below 300 at harvest.

In the southwest of the country there are many reports of wet rot, disease and phytophthora, which means that the first boxes are already being taken outside.

Text continues below the image.Precipitation in the month of October in millimeters. 

Futures market is also responding
The potato futures market also responds immediately to the weather forecast and harvest problems. The price has increased by €0,50. There seems to be no interest in sales below €7 anymore. 

A number of parties seem to want the coverage of their potatoes to be a little lighter until the harvest is secured.
The above map shows harvest progress in the Netherlands.