On the potato futures market, the cash settlement (CS) of week 11 had to show a significant rebound compared to a week earlier.
The CS was set at €11 by EEX on March 7,80 and a week later it was €1 lower. The significant reduction on Friday, March 12, of the Belgapom quotation by €1,50 to €5 and the absence of the PCA/Fiwap quotation on Tuesday, March 16, resulted in a significantly lower CS.
Just think, the contribution for the CS from Belgium (Belgapom and PCA/Fiwap) for week 11 was set at €5,20 (-€2,50), which is significantly out of balance compared to the average contribution (€7,36, 8,11) from the Netherlands (€7,82), Germany (€6,17) and France (€XNUMX).
The French contribution to CS also shows a reasonable decline, with -€1 decrease in one week (from €7,17 to €6,17). It is therefore likely that physical market prices and thus quotations in Germany and the Netherlands will also follow suit. The revival seen in the first 2 months of this year, with a small run-up in December, seems completely out of the picture. In that sense, the futures market has gone around the bush in recent weeks. At the end of December 2020, the April 2021 contract was quoted at €6,50, by mid-February (week 6) the market had risen to €10,50 and was then back to square one (€11) at the end of week 6,50.
Price development a disappointment
The price development of the potato market is a disappointment. The limited supply of free potatoes was the reason for the price revival. However, due to a drop in demand for the end product, the demand for potatoes is falling. Processing figures about the month of February underline that. Moreover, there are still ample stocks of potatoes available in the various European countries. The lack of relaxation of the corona measures is also not helping the mood.
It is unclear what the effect will be on the 2021/22 marketing season (harvest 2021), but it is clear that the potato sector (from cultivation to processing) is under considerable pressure. Ultimately, the aim is to get a return on the effort, an objective that has not been achieved in the past 2 seasons due to the increased risks associated with cultivation.{{dataviewSnapshot(2_1616081465)}}