Trading house HZPC has achieved a 'historically high' payment price for the affiliated seed potato growers. The forecast price was already above €50 at €50,70 and the final price will be another 5% above that.
HZPC's final payment price for the 2023 harvest year is €53,20. The price is therefore more than 40% higher than in the 2022 harvest year. "The total area of seed potatoes in Northwest Europe has decreased in the past year, but demand remains high," writes Martin Jansen Klomp in the explanation. "This creates favorable sales opportunities for seed potato growers and therefore a higher payment price."
The past growing season was a difficult one for growers. A significant amount of seed potatoes have been rejected or downgraded due to diseases. The weather did not cooperate in that respect, but the thinned out package of resources is also a point of concern according to HZPC. The sales season was challenging due to low yields and large quantities of excess sizes. The sales prices of oversizes are considerably lower than the pot sizes, but it has been possible to actually sell many oversize seed potatoes as seed potatoes.
Bumps
The 2024 harvest year has started with some bumps, according to Gerard Backx, CEO of HZPC. "Everyone has seen that growers are once again confronted with many problems. Due to the wet weather, they were only able to start planting late and now the control of diseases is made more difficult by an abundance of rain, which means that growers cannot enter the field with machines. All in all, the coming year will once again be very challenging for everyone in the potato chain."