It took a while, but after half a year, things are moving forward around PotatoNL. Processors, traders and growers represented in LNCN, Nao, Vavi and ZLTO still want to continue with the Dutch listing and will start listing on 6 January (last listing was 8 July).
The procedure for listing has changed. From now on, an independent market master will determine the listing based on the transactions and prices entered. There will no longer be consultation within the listing committee between the various contributors. BO Akkerbouw will fulfill the role of independent market master. In the 'old' setup, the trade association was also responsible for collecting the input from the processors. This was anonymized in the PAT list published. "In the coming months, the new method will be evaluated regularly," writes PotatoNL.
Different insights
It is a bit of a simplistic description, but disagreement about what may and may not be included for the Dutch potato quotation was the basis for the resentment within the PotatoNL quotation committee. From the growers' side there was criticism of the kilos delivered along that may not be included according to the protocol, but which were nevertheless contributed. Processors were annoyed by the 'in den lande' contribution of growers, verbal agreements between buyer and seller of which no purchase agreement has (yet) been drawn up or of which it is not shared. The parties also pointed out the competition law, which should be an important framework for the quotation.
The lack of a Dutch quotation for the potatoes from the 2024 harvest is difficult for the growers. A reasonably uncontroversial reference price was missing. Belgium, Germany and France do have their own quotations, but they are not always representative of what is happening on the Dutch market. The growers who are in the blood of trading do get their information, as this season has shown. If not through the grapevine, then through transaction apps, indicative prices or tenders from buyers. 'Did we have to wait six months for that?', as an insider sighs, is perhaps the most striking comment on the 'new' set-up of PotatoNL.