Now that we are in the last month of 2023, potato contracts for the 2024 harvest year are already being eagerly awaited. In recent years, it has been mainly Belgian potato processors who have been the first to enter the contract arena. This usually happens during the period when the Interpom, which is organized once every two years in Kortrijk, takes place.
The next edition is scheduled for the third week of November in 2024. The Belgian processor Clarebout managed to publish their contract prices a day before the start of Interpom, without having a stand at the trade fair. A clever example of marketing, since everyone talked about it for three days at the Interpom. Agristo's agricultural director has indicated in an article in Aardappelwereld that he will come up with the contract prices for the 2024/25 season before the traditional date of the Interpom this year. That should have been mid-November of this year. The processor in question has apparently postponed publication, as the 2024 contract prices do not appear to have been revealed yet.
The world of the potato market has changed a bit in recent weeks. A few weeks ago, an above-average potato harvest was expected, especially in Belgium and France (a total of 2 million tons more in both countries than in the 2022 harvest year). As a result, the average price for Fontane and Challenger dropped to €10 per 100 kilos. The current extremely difficult harvest season has given the market another turn.
Price jump in contracts too large
The signals about contract prices for the 2024 harvest ranged from slightly lower, especially for potatoes from the field and in the first part of the storage season, to unchanged for delivery later in the storage season. Especially in Belgium, there were reports that the price jump in the contracts from harvest 2022 to 2023 was very significant. Today it appears once again that growing potatoes is an unruly process, in which cultivation/harvest risks and the related costs go hand in hand. In that respect, it is certainly not expected that the contract prices for the 2024 harvest will be lower than for the current harvest year. Perhaps contract prices could rise a little further, who knows. More will become clear in the coming weeks. Let's first see whether the Belgians take the initiative again. Or not.