Potato price could exceed €20 by end of year

For export potatoes and popular French fry varieties (such as Agria and Innovator), prices have been paid well above €20 per 100 kilos for weeks. At the moment, there is buying interest in Innovator with prices between €23 and €25 for delivery before the end of the year. Agria is also strongly participating at the top of the market, with very nice lots (peeling) even reaching €30.

The bottom of the market remains Fontane, where the forced supply determines the price. The worst seems to be over, however. Belgapom quoted €15 this week. However, there are also traders looking for Fontane for storage and they offer considerably more for it.

Price trend striking
It is striking that the price trend of 2023 and 2024 is almost identical. The DCA Spot Price French Fries Potatoes (an average of the French Fries Potato quotations in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and France) shows an almost identical trend in both years. This is special, because the growing seasons cannot be compared with each other.

In 2023 we had an extremely wet autumn, which meant that part of the harvest was not harvested. During the 2023 off-land season, the price also dropped due to over-contracting and the late start of that season. However, the market started to rise from week 44, which meant that prices rose above €20 before the end of the year.

Movement equal
If you look at the graph of both years, you see that they show the same movement. However, 2024 started to get out of step after week 46, mainly due to the lack of an increase in the Belgapom quotation.

In the meantime, we see prices rising in Germany, the Netherlands and France. In Belgian trade, too, more is paid than the current Belgapom listing. If this trend continues, 2024 will soon be the same as 2023 and the listing will be above €20 before the end of the year.