Nedato presents pool prize with corona support

At the beginning of October, Nedato made the decision to start paying growers. Given its liquidity position, the cooperative also felt this obligation, explains agricultural director Wim van de Ree in an online video for members. RVO.nl has now started paying out amounts up to €25.000. The first growers have the money in their account.

Click contract highest price
Nedato fictitiously includes the €0,06 per kilo of aid that potato growers could apply for in the pools, daily prices and non-clicked click contracts. Growers who have received this amount will be reduced by €6 per 100 kilos. The potatoes that are priced on the basis of a fixed price contract, click contract or sold on a daily price already have a definitive result behind their name. These amounts have already been paid out. The average contract price between ex country and week 17 is €14,18. The click contracts clicked are on average at €17,91 and the potatoes bought at the daily price – until the beginning of March – come to €12,10.

A large part of the daily price potatoes had not yet been purchased on 1 March. These potatoes were all sold in an alternative destination. The average yield has become €1,75 per 100 kilos. Growers could apply for €6 in support for this, bringing the total amount to €7,75. The unclicked click contracts are settled by means of the cash settlement (CS) of the week of delivery. Unfortunately, this selling method turned a loss at the beginning of March, because the physical market fell faster than the futures market and CS. In total, Nedato pays these growers a supplementary payment of €1,25, to which growers receive an additional €6 in support.

Still surcharge for some breeds
The chip potato pool price without presale in week 13 is €11,81 per 100 kilos. The Agria, Markies, Innovator and Lady Anna varieties have a plus of €0,75. "Despite the fact that the market no longer made a distinction between the varieties after 1 March, we decided to differentiate between the higher-valued varieties," explains Van de Ree. "About 60% of the volume in the pool was sold before March 1. After that, the market collapsed, as the PotatoNL listing also makes clear. In our opinion, the Nedato pool is performing well compared to the stock market price."

The pool price without presale will be settled as usual. The storage table has not been adjusted in the pools and amounts to €2,50 in week 26. Nedato has fictitiously included the government support in the result. Growers who have received this €6 will be reduced by this amount. For example, whoever delivered Innovator in week 13 will not receive €12,44, but €6,44.

Nedato is pleased with the quality of the potatoes. There were hardly any quality problems – despite a difficult harvest. A few cases of food consumption did not cause any problems in sales, so the standard for this has been adjusted upwards. The OWG, baking quality, points and internal germ are not cut. Van de Ree: "We notice that customers are increasingly helping to find a place for lesser parties, in order to achieve maximum return from the product flow. The improved relationship between the grower or trade and the customer is at the root of this, whereby transparency is very important. is important."

Support for export potatoes still unknown
In contrast to the French fries, sales of export potatoes continued well after March 1, but at significantly lower prices. It is therefore difficult to calculate an average stock market price. Nedato's table potato pool for all varieties amounts to €17,25 per 100 kilos net, after deduction of sorting costs.

PlanetProof growers will receive an additional €1.000 per hectare. 60% of all participants deliver under this label, although the quality requirements are not always met. From this harvest year, a compensation of €400 per hectare will therefore also be paid to growers who do obtain the certificate, but do not meet the quality standard. As a result, the potatoes cannot be sold as PlanetProof.

Nedato has applied for government support for the export potatoes that were sold after March 15. This is due to the low price level of €2 to €3 and the displacement by French fries potatoes. PotatoNL's average export price for the entire season is €10,50. It is still uncertain whether this will also be paid out, although there are growers who have already received support. If this is the case, an additional €0,80 per 100 kilos will be paid out. This is not yet clear in mid-October.

Not too negative about next season
Van de Ree is not in sackcloth about the plans for the next marketing season. There are, however, many questions from growers for the 2021 cultivation season. "We notice that industries continue to be interested in potatoes close to their factories. Our growers are located in these areas, which gives us a strong position," he explains. "There is less need for potatoes, which is noticeable in the positions they take and where the risk distribution is different."

The focus is on quality, good relationships, long storage and a short transport distance, he continues. "For Nedato, these are positive factors. Our position as a partner is therefore more certain than the current season. Sales are now going well for table potatoes. Retail in particular continues to sell more product."