Thanks to an extremely wet summer, the Swiss potato harvest has suffered serious damage. The trade association Swisspatat already asked for an increase in the import quota for table potatoes. Now it requires more imports of seed potatoes. The harvest of high-quality chips and potato chips is disappointing.
Trade association Swisspatat previously asked for an increase in the import quota for table potatoes. Now it requires more imports of seed potatoes. The harvest of high-quality fries and potato chips is disappointing. The Federal Office for Agriculture has increased this quota by 5000 tons. A new application from the trade organization amounts to an additional 20.000 tons of imports for the period from mid-September to the end of 2021. This now concerns seed potatoes.
30% less yield
Normally, the import quota averages 14.800 tons per year. The increase can therefore be called significant. Such an adjustment was last made in 2017, after a disappointing harvest in the autumn of 2016. According to the Federal Office of Agriculture (BLW), the potato harvest will be up to 30% lower this year. For organic crops this is even up to 80% lower. French fries and potato chips in particular have problems with quality and yield. As a result, more storage losses are expected. Sometimes even entire plots of organic potatoes have been lost.
Another consequence of the weather extremes is that the requirements regarding sorting are also adjusted by customers. For example, potato trading house Terralog has informed its growers that it will purchase table potatoes from 25mm. There is no upper limit. This also applies to chip potatoes, where the size problem is less of an issue. The quality requirements for seed potatoes have also been expanded. For example, 14% of the batch may show defects (was 10%). The allowable percentage of hollow has been increased from 6% to 10%.
Significantly higher prices
The established potato prices for sorted and loose delivered product have been adjusted upwards by the Swiss trade association. Agria for processing into chips has a target price of €40,31 per 100 kilos (grading from 42,5mm). Fontane and Markies are at €40,17 per 100 kilos. The price level for organic potatoes is even well above €90 per 100 kilos. A price of €91,81 is reported for an organic Agria.
Switzerland mainly buys potatoes in the Netherlands when there are problems with their own harvest. The country is known for its high market prices, but this also comes with strict quality requirements. It is a good destination especially for Agria. Because yields in Austria and Germany are not good everywhere - and there are also quality problems due to weather extremes - there is a good chance that more demand will be noticeable in our country this year. This last happened in 2016, after an extremely poor harvest. Then almost 6.500 tons were imported.