On Friday 4 November, Lutosa opened the doors of a completely new factory for the production of dehydrated potato products at its location in Leuze-en-Hainaut. Together, the lines can produce 96 tons of flakes per day. It is the second new potato factory to be launched in the Belgian 'golden triangle' in a short period of time.
The end of October opened officially the brand new Aviko Potato factory in Poperinge, a half-hour drive from Lutosa. Family business Lutosa - which was acquired by global player McCain in 2013 - has been producing frozen fries and flakes in Leuze-en-Hainaut since 1978. This place is located roughly between Tournai (Tournai) and Mons (Mons). A completely new factory has been built on the existing site, specifically for the production of dried potato products. This is reported by the Belgian agricultural news website Felt.
€4,5 million for the environment
McCain spent €45 million building a new factory. A relatively large share of €4,5 million was spent on the environmental impact, such as reducing water consumption. The demand for flakes, for example for the production of mashed potatoes, is increasing worldwide. McCain wants to respond to this with the new factory.
All major Belgian potato processors with factories are located in a triangle that runs approximately from Ghent to Dunkirk and Mons. In addition to Aviko Potato and McCain Lutosa, Clarebout, Agristo and Mydibel are also located there. The latter reportedly stands for sale and produces between 255.000 and 330.000 tons of fries in Mouscron. Aviko opened their brand new factory in October, which produces 3.500 tons of fries per week. Agristo is good for around 200.000 tons of fries in Wielsbeke.
The significant growth of the Belgian chip industry - and therefore potato cultivation in Belgium and Northern France - is not entirely without controversy. The largest Belgian fries producer Clarebout in particular was regularly at odds with local residents in Frameries and Dunkirk, where the company wants to build factories. Since this spring, the press has been eerily silent about these plans, which turned into a real soap opera.
Raw material supply in jeopardy
Belgium and (Northern) France have had a particularly difficult growing season with severely disappointing hectare yields. It is therefore the Belgian processors who buy large volumes of potatoes in the Netherlands and even transport them from the far north to France. With the presentation of the 7e manure action plan (MAP7) in Flanders, even the entire potato cultivation has come into question. Hopefully the soup will not be eaten that hot, but it does undermine the raw material supply of factories in the golden triangle.