Larger German harvest not reflected in the barn

According to the statistics service Destatis, there were still 31 million tons of potatoes in German storage facilities on the reference date of December 4. That is 300.000 tons more than a year ago, but you can't call it excessive. In 2022, the stock was slightly higher. It is also 230.000 tons less than in the record year 2017.

Lower Saxony
Nearly half of this volume is stored in Lower Saxony, which amounts to 1,9 million tonnes. This is 200.000 tonnes more than last year, but again less than in 2022 and 2017. North Rhine-Westphalia follows with 900.000 tonnes of potatoes, which is 400.000 tonnes more than a year ago. The stock figures refer almost entirely to French fries and table potatoes.

It is not surprising that there are more potatoes in Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia, given the yield figures that Destatis has also published. The former state harvested 6,1 million tonnes of potatoes last year, which is 11% more than in 2023. North Rhine-Westphalia reaches 2,4 million tonnes, which is 9% more. Last month it was announced that the statistics service had significantly corrected the area figure downwards, by 7.100 hectares to 282.200 hectares. A correction was made in Lower Saxony in particular.

Largest harvest in 20 years
Our eastern neighbours grew 6,6% more potatoes last year. With an average yield of 45 tonnes, the total harvest (all types) amounts to 12,7 million tonnes according to Destatis. If this is true, it will be the largest yield harvested in twenty years. It is considerably more than the 11,6 million tonnes that growers harvested in 2023. It is therefore somewhat remarkable that hardly anything of that considerably larger harvest can be seen in storage. Even if Destatis subsequently makes a substantial correction, the harvest will remain unprecedentedly large.

With this fact in mind, you would expect German processors to have processed considerably more tons, but that is not visible. Up to 1 January, 12,5% ​​fewer fries were produced in the current processing season. The extra potatoes must therefore have been exported mainly to countries such as the Netherlands and Belgium or sold to the table potato market and starch industry.

The larger harvest has not resulted in the market being depressed. In 2017 (when 11,7 million tonnes were harvested), the market dropped back to a level of €4 on the free market. The Reka quotation has been on the rise since November and is even leading within the EU-4 in terms of pricing. Innovator is now quoted at €40 per 100 kilos, which is €2,50 more than PotatoNL, for example. Agria is €2 below the Dutch price level at €36. Fontane uses €30, which is also what Belgium and France are adhering to.