The potato processing industry has again processed more potatoes this month than last month, but the backlog compared to last year remains large. Just over half of the processed volume came from abroad, which is considerably more than in previous months.
The industry processed 278.700 tons of potatoes into fries and other potato products in August. This is evident from the current processing figures that Vavi publishes monthly. The processed volume is therefore approximately 5% larger than in the month July. In that month, 269.600 tons of potatoes were processed.
The backlog remains significant
Compared to last year, a fairly depressing picture is still visible. In August 2019, 345.000 tons of potatoes were still processed. It is clear that the potato processing industry is still recovering from the corona crisis and its consequences for the catering industry. Since the outbreak, the processing figure has averaged around 253.000 tonnes, while previously it was around 316.000 tonnes during this period.
The processing figure over the past 12 months is 3,49 million tons, of which 1,57 million tons have been processed into pre-fried products and 304.000 tons into other potato products. In the 12 months before that (September 2018 to September 2019), 3,85 million tons of potatoes were processed.
More volume from abroad
Of the processed volume, 50,2% (or 139.800 tons) came from abroad. This is proportionately more than last year, when 43,2% of the processed volume was imported. That year it involved more tons, because the total processing was higher (149.000). Last month, a total of 192.200 tons were used for the production of pre-fried fries and 24.800 tons of potatoes were processed into other products.