The potato harvest is in full swing and that means the truth of the potato yield is emerging. The yield differences are large and it is striking that plots planted early do clearly better. The plots further north also seem to have a clearly better yield than in the south of the country.
Belgium and France have been hit particularly hard and are suffering from a significant loss of yield. Growers there are looking forward to a potato harvest that is significantly below the five-year average. Growers who deliver from the field often pay attention to the logistics of the harvest during the harvest phase and less to price formation.
Harvesting is more important than price
There are many rumors that trucks are more important than price. Processors are doing their best to get rid of the harvest, although longer waiting times are reported due to the low yield. Price formation at this time of year is often flat and sideways due to pressure off land, and this also seems to be the case now.
What is striking is the many reports received from growers with available potatoes who cannot get a bid for their potatoes in the short term (or even in the long term). Free potatoes in the Netherlands are, it seems, ignored by buyers. The regular growers are helped first and the excess kilos are neatly settled against the established potato quotations. Free potatoes offered from 'non' permanent growers can, with pain and difficulty, receive bids of €20 through the trade. A difficult story if you want to continue with the harvest.
The second time
This is the second time in a short time that this has happened. Even at the end of the previous season in May, the free growers were not served. The futures market and the stock exchange quotation indicated €25, but free growers could not sell their potatoes to processors for €20. A situation that seems to be occurring more and more often on the potato market, where permanent growers have priority over growers with free potatoes. Moreover, they also receive different prices than those in the free market. Even in a market that actually has a shortage situation.
Numbers are no longer important
The lackluster mood creates a deserted impression on the potato futures market. As of 14.00 p.m. on Friday, no contract had yet been traded. The range in the book is limited on both the buying and selling sides. First the harvest and then the market, it seems. There is no fear of a sharp decline in the futures market, which means it is stabilizing. An exceptional situation in a season in which there are many similarities with 2018 when it comes to potato yields in the EU-4. Numbers seem to matter less and less, a handful of processors all the more.{{dataviewSnapshot(2_1663329309)}}