Still growing table potatoes quickly this season?

The area shifts over the years between the different cultivation segments, with the area for seed potatoes and chips being the most stable. Comparatively speaking, there is a bit more shifting in terms of area between the areas of starch, table and chip potatoes. These shifts are not shocking.

The appetite for potatoes suitable for fries will only increase for the coming season, given the movements in the market. The total processing capacity, especially in the EU-4 countries, will continue to grow, while the area for chip potato cultivation has come under pressure, mainly due to corona and the resulting low market prices. For example, in 2021 there was a contraction of the area of ​​4% in the EU-3. Before 2022, the area must expand again by at least 3% to meet the needs of the market.

Based on signals in the market, part of the expansion for the fries segment may come from a shift from the table potato segment. Sales and therefore also the market price (read: yield) of the table potato have come under pressure, especially in recent years. For example, table potatoes in Germany, for example, fetch an average of less than €20 per 100 kilos during this period, which is too poor considering the market price of chip potatoes.        

Are table potatoes an alternative?
Now that a real potato country like Ukraine has ended up in an unwanted war, this seems disastrous for the cultivation for next season, causing a shortage of 'normal' potatoes. Regular potatoes do not really mean chip potatoes, but the more edible (cooking) potatoes. Whether this expected situation in the European potato market can have direct consequences for the table segment remains to be seen. The construction plans have usually already been made and the seed potatoes have often already been purchased. The war issue may have strange and unexpected results on general potato cultivation in the European Union, especially in Eastern Europe.