The Belgian potato stock was estimated at 1,96 million tons at the beginning of April. With 700.000 tons, that is more than the stock in the previous 3 seasons. This is apparent from the stock inventory done by PCA and Fiwap.
The large stock is not unexpected, thanks to the large harvest of 5,11 million tons. The share of free potatoes is slightly less than half, with 930.000 tons of potatoes. This is a doubling compared to the 5-year average. According to PCA, this is due to the high yields per hectare.
Area forecast 2018
130 growers were questioned about their area plans. According to PCA and Fiwap, the early area will shrink sharply in Flanders. The initial forecast is a decline of 28%. The area for the main harvest is expected to shrink by 2% in Flanders. In Wallonia, an expansion of 6% is currently expected.
More Fontane
The shift between Bintje and Fontane is clearly noticeable in the stock inventory. The share of the relatively frequently freely sold Bintje is 23% of the current stock. That is considerably less than in 2012, when the share was 60%. Fontane takes an increasing share of the storage potatoes, with 44% of the total stock. The stock of Fontane has decreased less quickly than other varieties compared to February (32%).
A larger area of Fontane is also expected for this harvest. Bintje has to make concessions again and only has 14% of the area of storage potatoes in Flanders and Wallonia. Fontane is expected to increase by 16% and thus compensate for the decline. The other major breeds are Innovator, Challenger and Markies. Royal and Agria are also declining. Challenger is stable.
More contract farming
The figures show that 45% of Belgian potatoes are grown under contract. That was 42% last harvest year. PCA is keeping a tight rein because not all contract negotiations have been completed. Because Belgian growers mainly work with fixed tonnages per hectare, the final ratio is very dependent on the yield. Almost 70% of the early potatoes are grown under contract.
Sales are continuing fairly smoothly so far. 11% more potatoes have been sold so far, compared to the 5-year average. However, this is not enough to keep up with the large increase in production of the 2017 harvest.