Aviko has determined the contract prices for chips potatoes for the 2022 harvest year. Growers' organizations such as the NAV and POC have shown in their model calculations that the cost price of potato cultivation will rise sharply in the coming season. Are those higher cultivation costs compensated in the Aviko contracts for the coming season?
To offer growers perspective for potato cultivation, Aviko is increasing the fixed price contracts across the entire width by €25 per tonne. Growers who signed a two-year contract last year will be largely compensated when the contract is extended. In addition, Aviko has increased the net volume that can be contracted to 40 and 45 tons per hectare. Growers who supply their entire hectare of yield on a fixed price contract receive an additional payment of €5 per tonne.
Offer perspective
Potato growers are confronted with significant price increases for energy, fertilizers and crop protection products. The cost price of growing French fries potatoes has therefore risen and this is putting pressure on the profitability of the cultivation, according to Aviko. "It is up to the buyers to offer the growers sufficient prospects to continue growing French fries potatoes," writes Dick Zelhorst, director of Aviko, in a message to the growers. "Without chip potatoes, there would be no processing industry."
A comment that can be made about the higher contract prices is that last season prices were reduced by approximately €5 per tonne. Compared to the 2020 harvest, the price has therefore increased by €20 per tonne. The question is how growers interpret that. Do they see the new prices as a substantial price increase or merely as a compensation for rising costs?