NAK figures confirm low seed potato exports

On March 1, 2018, 648.141 tons of seed potatoes were sealed. That is more than 60.000 tons less than last year in the same period. At that time, the plumber figure was 710.557 tons.

(Text continues below the chart)The plumber numbers are clearly behind previous years.

Export of seed potatoes difficult
The fact that there is less certified has everything to do with the difficult course of seed potato exports. "Sales in Southern Europe in particular are lower," says HZPC director Gerard Backx. "The reason for this is the low ware potato price."

Jan van Hoogen, director at Agrico, also mentions the fact that it was very cold in the past 2 weeks. "That doesn't help with delivery." However, he expects it to be very busy in the coming weeks. "However, we are not going to achieve last year's figures."

potermaat
Peter Ton, director at Stet Holland, also calls the backlog significant at the moment. As an extra reason, he says that the yield in the potermaat is lower than last year. However, he does not expect demand to decrease. "The key markets, which have yet to be supplied, are generally professional and do not simply adjust their schedules in response to market mood." 

Last season, however, demand in Europe was above average. Ton: "We expect the deficit to increase further compared to last year. In the most positive scenario, it will remain the same."