The French fries sector and starch potato sector have 2 important things in common. Both have had a bad harvest and both have growth ambitions. The market for starch potatoes is in a favorable mood, which means that there is room to process more potatoes.
The potato and starch yield per hectare has not been this low since 1995. This is evident from new ones Numbers from growers' organization UNPT. Drought is the best known cause of this. It represents a break in the trend, because in recent years slightly more has been harvested from 1 hectare.
Significantly fewer potatoes
The average hectare yield dropped to 32 tons per hectare last autumn, compared to more than 1 tons the year before. The percentage of potatoes with at least 45% starch was also considerably lower (17 tons). A total of 10 tons of starch potatoes were harvested, compared to 950.000 million tons last year. During the 1,16/2015 campaign, the yield was slightly lower.
Such figures do not match what customers want to see. The 2 French factories want to process 1,5 million tons of starch potatoes. This goal has already been set for the upcoming campaign. However, the erratic growing conditions threaten the yield and starch content, which has increasingly deviated from the average growth curve in recent years.
Market makes growth possible
In addition to sugar beets, Tereos also processes starch potatoes. Over the past 7 years, it invested €25 million in the Haussimont factory (Marne department). Sales of potato starch have increased significantly in recent years, the factory says. Since the market is good, it wants to grow further. In addition to more potatoes, it also wants better and longer storage of starch potatoes.
The German concern Emsland Group made last month known that it wants to grow in the starch potato sector, but also in the flakes and granules segment. The company is currently building a new factory in East Germany, which will process starch potatoes this fall.