MARS: 'Fewer potatoes in Germany'

It is mainly northern Germany, parts of the Benelux, Denmark, southern Sweden and the British Isles that will be affected by regular and heavy rainfall this autumn. This hinders the harvest of potatoes, sugar beet and maize and delays the sowing of winter crops.

At the same time, it is the dry conditions that are affecting Spain, France, northeastern Slovenia, Germany, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and western Ukraine this year. In these countries, the rain often came too late for the crops to recover properly and for the sowing to be carried out smoothly.

Germany to -12%
In the MARS report the European Commission expects the potato harvest in Germany to be 12% lower than the average over the past 5 years. Last month there was still talk of -10%. A yield of 38,4 tons per hectare is now expected.

In the Czech Republic, potato growers are also struggling with a moderate harvest, which is estimated at 23,5 tons per hectare. That is 14% less than the 5-year average. In Austria and Poland the forecasts are -9,6% and -6,4% respectively. One of the few positive outliers is Denmark where a 5,4% increase in yield of 43 tons per hectare is expected.

Average EU
Added together, the average potato yield in the European Union is expected to be 32,7 tons per hectare. That is a plus of 6,4% compared to 2018, but still 3% lower than the 5-year average (33,7 tons per hectare). A similar picture was last month already outlined.

On the other hand, the European Commission has revised its forecasts downwards for sugar beet. An average yield of 71,3 tonnes per hectare has been estimated for the EU, which is 5,1% less than the 5-year average (75,1 tonnes per hectare). In September, a 4% lower beet yield was still expected. A lower yield of around -9% is expected for Poland, France and Spain, among others.