After quite a few nice autumn periods to harvest the potatoes, few growers felt any tension for this harvest season. The subsoil was, and still is, bone dry due to the 2 dry years and the relatively low amount of precipitation last winter. So the soil can have a lot of water.
Nevertheless, the precipitation of the past few days, in combination with the weather forecasts for the coming weeks, is the cause of the rising prices on the futures market. The price currently rises relatively easily to €16,40. The first nervous hedgers are already reporting. Approximately 30% of the main harvest has been harvested, which means that a lot of work still needs to be done.
Dry days needed
The problem is not (yet) in the water damage as a result of the extreme precipitation, but the problem now is that you need dry days to harvest. Moreover, time is running out. Given the current weather forecast, the main harvest will not start before mid-October. For potato growers who lived through 1998, the specter of frost is already looming in their minds.
Sentiment can change quickly. Moreover, European processors cannot grow too large afford to lose potatoes. The physical market is not yet shrinking, but if the harvest is further postponed, it will also start to move.