The most exciting question that comes to the fore in corona time is: does potato processing suffer from the second wave. And if so, how?
The monthly processing figures provide an idea of the pace at which Dutch industries are able to turn potatoes into an end product. This season, up to and including October, were certainly not months to complain about, given all the corona issues. But November's figures show a different picture.
Poor result
The figures announced by the VAVI (Association for the Potato Processing Industry) for the month of November amount to 279.800 tons of processed potatoes. Compared to November 2019, this is a decrease of 31.700 tons, or more than 10%. Measured against the processing result of October 2020, November's results appear very poor. With the approaching end-of-year holiday in many factories, potato processing in December is expected to fall below November levels.
Of the processed volume of potatoes, 108.900 tons were imported (38,9%), compared to 40,5% in November 2019. The processing yield was 52,4%, compared to 54,8% last year.