Q-potato has set a historically high payout price for the seed potato pool. The company has benefited from the fact that it is not tied to fixed price contracts and has followed the right sales strategy. Wouter Mutsaers, the co-owner of Q-potato, explains the pool price.
The Q-potato payout price is €45,73 per 100 kilos. This is the average price for all classes and breeds, for autumn delivery and without storage and bagging fees. For Spunta, the price for class A to S is €45,06 per 100 kilos. Spunta covers more than half of Q-potato's pool.
Get used to price level
Mutsaers is very satisfied with this award. "The high price could be achieved, among other things, by the fact that Q-potato is not bound to the fixed price contracts. We also waited with the final sale of the potatoes, in order to let our buyers get used to the high price level. By the way, I have to say that it took a long time before the scarcity became apparent."
"We were actually able to sell 99,9% of our seed potatoes as seed potatoes. We had to meet part of the demand with seed potatoes from Germany and Denmark," says Mutsaers. "Unfortunately, we also had to disappoint buyers, because seed potatoes from the Netherlands are preferred. A season like this also ensures that growers in a country like Algeria focus even more on growing their own seed potatoes, although the question remains to what extent they can do this. to achieve good quality."
The quality of the potters was not too bad for Mutsaers. "I had estimated the effect of last summer's drought to be greater." He does indicate that the yield differences (and therefore also the financial hectare yields) are considerable. "Even where irrigation could be used, the yields were considerably lower. This is because irrigation can only be used for repairs. There are really regions where farmers had tears in their eyes."
Growth is not a goal in itself
Although Q-potato wants to grow in area, growth is not a goal in itself. By not viewing our potatoes as commodities, but as quality products, we expect organic growth. We link our buyers directly to seed potato lots. This means that both parties know where they stand. Our seed potato growers have often been linked to foreign buyers for years. That is important because we all know that one class E is not the same as another," says Mutsaers.