After two years of major influence from corona, the potato market has largely been able to shake off this yoke. The DCA Potato Bingo recorded a well above average result for the 2021 harvest. Selling potatoes completely randomly scored (once again) higher than other sales methods. The contrast is great.
It will take more than five weeks before the April 2022 contract on the EEX potato futures market in Leipzig is concluded. However, the last measuring point of the Potato Bingo has already passed on March 8. The second highest price was recorded on that date this season. The result is an average of €19,44 per 100 kilos of potatoes. This is €4,12 above the long-term average. It is the fourth highest bingo result since the start fifteen years ago.
What is Potato Bingo? Nine bingo balls are drawn from the bingo game based on complete randomness. These numbers represent the date in a six-week sales period. The closing price of the futures market on that date is the sales price. All prices together form the average again, this season so €19,44.
€21,00 highest price
The lowest sales price was registered at the first time of sale: €18,00. The 18 continued to be used until mid-October, when the highest result for this season was achieved: €21,00. The price then dropped slightly to the €19 level, although the bingo was close to €19,90 twice. The final result of €8 was achieved on March 20,00.
It is interesting to see how bingo compares to other sales methods. To start with, the cash settlement. This results in a provisional result of €2021 for the period April 2022 – March 13,90. The DCA PAT Index comes to €13,93 and PotatoNL's quotation for category I amounts to an average of €14,46. The Potato Bingo has therefore performed well above all these prize instruments and the difference is significant.
If the market picks up again at the tail end of the season, this can of course still have a positive effect on the figures. The PAT Index and PotatoNL listing in particular benefit from this.
Excellent pool prices
It is interesting to see how emotionless trading in an emotional market can turn out: usually positive. But bingo also has a predictive value for the potato pools. They present their results in May and June. The bundled potato supply is also sold gradually throughout the season. The same methodology as bingo uses. An excellent bingo result therefore means excellent pool prizes.