News Annual figures
Corona draws heavily on Agrico's annual figures
Agrico members have invested €2 million in the (seed) potato cooperative through a member financing program. A new registration round will follow at the beginning of 2022. The Emmelorder company announced this during the digital members' meeting.
Agrico achieved a net turnover of €2020 million in the 2021-293 season. A year earlier that was still €332 million. A difference of almost €40 million, or 12%. Agrico speaks of a 'difficult season' due to the corona crisis. Sales fell sharply in almost all market shares. Important sales markets were bad. Partly because the liquid assets of buyers were lacking. Also in the payout prizes the difficult season was marked. This amounted to €25,77 per 100 kilos.
Despite the significantly lower turnover, the cooperative says in a press release that it is not dissatisfied with the end result. From an organizational point of view, it looks back on a good year.
Member financing
The company's solvency improved last summer as members contributed €2 million to the cooperative through a member financing round. The next round of the subordinated loan will follow in January. With this, Agrico aims to further strengthen its capital. Total group equity for 2020-21 amounts to €33,85 million. A year earlier, that was €30,5 million. In total, members' subordinated loans now total €5,9 million compared to €3,74 million in 2019-20, according to the annual report to make up.
Algeria exports halved
In addition to limited financial resources, a lack of containers was another difficulty. That was true for some destinations. In Europe, Spain, Portugal and Italy took a step back in terms of turnover. For example, 5.000 tons less Agrias were exported to Spain. Overseas Algeria stands out. Thanks to a quota for seed potatoes, only half of the usual volume was exported by Agrico. Where 75.000 to 85.000 tons was normal, last season stopped with 44.000 tons.
Agrico delivered 510.700 tons of seed potatoes and 112.300 tons of ware potatoes last season. The acreage for ware potatoes grew over 300 hectares. In the case of seed potatoes, this was 215 hectares. This despite a shrinking number of members (-112) and slightly fewer growers.
Lower consumer prices
Despite the fact that more table potatoes have been consumed since the corona crisis, the lack of exports and a malaise in the chip potato market were felt. The average payment price for table potatoes for the 2020 harvest was €13,14 per 100 kilos, compared to more than €19 a year earlier. That does not include PlanetProof fee. About 95% of the potato volume is grown under this label. The acreage for table potatoes, mainly aimed at the Dutch fresh market, is growing constantly.
The organic table potatoes were paid out at an average of €28,53 per 100 kilos. That is a tenner less than the season before. In terms of export, Germany in particular failed, because the country itself had a good harvest. Of the more than 19.000 tons that Agrico sold in 2020, 8.000 tons remained in our country. Not only Albert Heijn, but also more packers purchased product. Because the retail sector wants to switch from 80% to 100% Dutch product, Agrico expects further growth in the coming years.
More robust varieties
In the current season the situation is very different. Due to an extremely high phytophthora pressure, the yields are considerably lower and the prices higher. Agrico hopes to further expand its share with robust varieties. In 2020, more than 50% of the acreage consisted of robust varieties. Two new varieties were introduced last season, including the phytopthora-resistant variety Fenna. This season, too, he was free from the dreaded disease, says Agrico Research director Sjefke Allefs.
Agrico talks about Next generation varieties with the robust organic varieties. These are now also grown in trial contexts by conventional potato growers – in collaboration with Agrifirm. According to Alefs, the preliminary conclusion is that an average of five sprayings can be skipped in the first half of the growing season. However, summer 2021 was also challenging for these varieties. Resistances were broken in a few days to a few weeks. The aim is therefore to develop varieties with two or more resistance genes as quickly as possible. Agrico hopes to bring the first variety to the market in 2024.
Green Deal as an opportunity
The European Green Deal is an opportunity for Agrico, because of the desired growth in organic acreage of up to 25%. In order to also make the use of organically grown starting material mandatory, most European legislation must be amended, says commercial manager Wieger van der Werff. Only in the Netherlands and France is it mandatory to use biological starting material. In most other countries, organic growers use conventional seed potatoes. A missed opportunity for Agrico. The cooperative will, however, invest in this market segment with a reintroduction of the Bioselect brand name.
Agrico is positive about seed potato exports in the current season. Van der Werff says the European market is looking better this season. The French fries industry is running at full speed and hopes to turn the decrease in acreage into an expansion. There is also hope that Algeria will increase the import quota to 80.000 tons, which makes a difference in both sales and price. Expensive container transport remains a concern. Jute and pallets are also considerably more expensive. The question is whether all customers are willing to pay these costs.
Niels van der Boom
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