Efforts of potato growers have not (yet) been rewarded

Traditionally, the early potato market starts to open up in weeks 30-31. Then the processors gain steam and the truth of the yields comes to light. In that light, you could conclude that there is a good yield with limited demand, which puts further pressure on the market.

However, no year is the same and that also applies to this season. The processors have worked with old potatoes for a long time and have also taken long breaks to do maintenance. The somewhat quieter sales of pre-baked products also meant that stocks in the various cold stores were somewhat larger, allowing better timing of when to start processing the new harvest.

The price development appears to be a repeat of last year. Even then, there was a kind of gap in the transition from the old to the new harvest and processors started later with the early potatoes. This caused a kind of traffic jam in the delivery of contract potatoes, causing the ex-field price to drop to €10 in week 38 (mid-September). 

This scenario now seems to be playing out again in the market. Start later, contract a lot, first yields are reasonable to good, no room for free potatoes and processors who do not want to buy. This means that the free cultivation of early potatoes once again does not seem to be rewarded, despite all the extremes in growing conditions and the high costs of seed potatoes and GBM. Growing early potatoes freely is increasingly a kind of Russian roulette where you, as a grower with high risks, receive a low reward.

The development of the early potato price also has an effect on the storage potato market. The mood and interest in storage potatoes delivery in April 2025 is therefore also calm. The futures market drops back to €32, which is actually a strange movement given the signals from the field of the first test harvests.

It will be quite a challenge to achieve an average yield in Northwest Europe. Plots of the main harvest have, on average, few kilos under them and the extreme weather conditions have an impact on the development of the plants.

After a few weeks of drier weather, a number of varieties are clearly showing the consequences of the extreme precipitation. Plants do not have deep roots, which means that crops quickly develop signs of damage in dry weather.

Despite the growing period that has passed, it seems almost impossible to achieve a reasonable yield. Parts of France, Belgium and the Netherlands expect a moderate to poor harvest, only in Germany it seems reasonable to good.

The fact that there is no mood in the market for direct delivery can still be explained given the logistical congestion that processors have caused, but it is striking that there is little movement in the market for the main harvest.

It would be a disappointment for many growers if their efforts and risks this season were not rewarded with a price well above cost price.