These are special times on the potato market. Potatoes are being pulled from different angles. The cash settlement for chip potatoes is at a record high for this time of year. Exporters and peelers have to do something to compete against the violence of the chip industry.
The top end of the potato market is currently heading towards €50 per 100 kilos collected from the grower. For example, in the south-west of the Netherlands, €47 was paid this week for Agria (loosely deposited) for the purpose of peeling. For delivery in mid-April from box storage in Central Netherlands, this would have been €50. Basically, the current potato market for fries and other destination potatoes lies in a wide range between €35 for Fontane (see also Belgapom quote of Friday, March 1), €40 for Innovator, rising to €47 for Agria. With clearly better weather in prospect for the next two weeks, you might think that the market could stabilize somewhat. Especially bearing in mind that the storage season is only half way.
Competitors on the horizon
Looking at the German REKA quotation of Friday, March 1, there are always upward steps in price, with €36 on the board for Fontane and Challenger. For Innovator that is €39. The bottom of the price range may easily move towards €40 in the not too distant future, given the available bids for Fontane for week 17 (€40), which will further continue the historic course of the 2023/24 potato season. will be able to get.
The fact is that buyers from the export segment will start to lean back a bit if much more than €42,50 per 100 kilos has to be paid, as was done this week for Melody, for example. Making it ready for export and getting it to the destination (for example Spain) then becomes a costly affair. With the supply of potatoes now only coming from Egypt, the cards are presented a bit differently, although the demand for potatoes is not only in Spain and Italy, but also in Greece. In Greece, the 2023 harvest was disappointing and the potatoes still in stock are limited, meaning that current market prices ex-grower are currently between the €60 and €70 level. The high prices and therefore financially attractive cultivation of potatoes in 2023 will reportedly allow for a significantly larger area (up to 20% more) in the 2024 harvest year.