After the declaration of the seed potato areas for the 2019 harvest was announced, the trade in free seed potato varieties was shrouded in silence. Bintje, which for years was one of the largest free breeds, hardly counts in this regard.
With an area of 420 hectares, Bintje is of minor importance. In practice, this means that trade in the new harvest has yet to get going. Bintje buyers do not seem to be in a hurry after last year, because the stories about shortages did not become reality. Here and there there are sporadically inquired about Bintje, but nothing comes to fruition. The indication of Bintje A 28/35 and 35/45 has been unchanged since the start (week 17) with a calm mood.
Quiet market
The story for the free export varieties is also that things are quiet, but the reason for this is different. Last year, growers experienced that, for example, Spunta, with a grower price of €40, was not able to deliver a breaking point. It is easy to guess that growers have set €40 as a target on the horizon at the moment. Time will tell whether that €40 is also too high.
According to the latest figures from the NAK, concerns about a difficult selection year seem unnecessary. Although a slightly higher reduction is visible in the second selection round, the total reduction percentage is only 40%. The current percentage for rejections is 0,7%, compared to 1,5% last year and around 2017% in 0,5.
This article is part of this week's published Trend report Arable farming Pro, which also focuses on the grain market, onion market and manure market. Click here to read the Trend Report.