As in the Netherlands, the French potato processors are reporting very good processing figures for the end of 2021. Potato processing increased by no less than a third. This means that France and Belgium are moving more and more potatoes back and forth across the border.
In December 2021, French potato workers processed a total of 96.500 tons of potatoes, according to figures from the processing organization GIPT. That is an increase of 33% compared to November. The last quarter therefore shows significant growth in processing. Of the current harvest, 630.000 tons have now been processed, which is a record. In 2019, 624.000 tons of potatoes were processed, after which processing fell sharply during the corona year of 2020. The market has now recovered considerably.
More free potatoes
More than three-quarters of all processed potatoes come from contracts. This concerns 473.000 tons. In addition, the companies have purchased an additional 66.000 tons of free potatoes for this season until January and imported another 91.000 tons. Almost all of them come from Belgium, while Belgians also buy a significant amount of volume in France.
The level of imported potatoes is slightly higher but not much different. However, the French industry has clearly purchased more free potatoes than was the case in the last two years. In addition to a positive market, this also has everything to do with the fact that there are free potatoes for sale at all. Due to a better harvest - compared to the previous three years - and because of smaller volumes in the contracts.