Potato exports continue to decline. Since November 2018, the current export figures can no longer keep up with last year's figures. This is evident from figures from the Netherlands Potato Organization (NAO).
In December 2018, 57.912 tons of ware potatoes were exported. This means that potato exports are lagging further behind last year. If this figure is compared with December 2017, we see that 72.300 tons were exported at the time.
Up to and including December, 366.500 tons of the 2018 harvest have been exported. This shows even more clearly that the backlog is increasing. Last year, 385.200 tons had been exported up to and including December. On the other hand, exports are still roughly keeping pace with 2016.
Africa gets less
Export currently mainly consists of shifting between parties from the Netherlands and Belgium. The latter country imported the majority of November's export figure (32.755 tonnes). Africa is clearly receiving fewer potatoes from the Netherlands this season. To date, 47.500 tonnes have been exported to the continent, compared to 88.000 tonnes last season.
106.575 tons of potatoes were imported in December, of which a remarkably small proportion were starch potatoes (4.412 tons). Last year that was more than 28.000 tons of starch potatoes.