Inside: Potato Market
Biggest British potato harvest since 2011
The British organization AHDB Potato has published an initial estimate for the 2017 harvest, which is 15% higher than last year's volume. This makes it the largest harvest that has been harvested since 2011.
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Choose the subscription that suits youAn initial estimate from AHDB amounts to 6,04 million tons of consumption and seed potatoes, 15% more than last year. The final yield for the 2016 harvest puts AHDB at 5,24 million tonnes. This is slightly higher than the latest estimate of 5,22 million tonnes. This is due to the area, which turned out to be larger.
6,04
million
Increase for 2016
In 2016, the potato area amounted to 116.225 hectares. The final estimate for 2017 is 122.779 hectares, an increase of 1.882 hectares compared to the estimate made by AHDB at the beginning of this year. The average estimated yield is therefore 49,3 tons per hectare.
Harvesting was also carried out in wet conditions in the United Kingdom last autumn. The average quality is said to be good, but late harvested batches sometimes have problems. This mainly concerns punch blue.
Quality is scarce
Hollow tubers, internal rust and deformed tubers are also found in storage potatoes. In wet areas, snail feeding is a problem. Top quality potatoes are scarce, AHDB reports.
The price is under pressure and continues to decline. In week 49, an average of €9,83 per 100 kilos was paid for free potatoes. This mainly concerns sorted and bagged potatoes.
