Belgian growers hold on to free potatoes

In total, the Belgian potato harvest for 2024 was 4,31 million tonnes, according to Viaverda's estimate, of which 4,07 million tonnes were storage potatoes. Of the storage potatoes, 1,28 million tonnes are free. This means that the amount of free potatoes is 12% above the five-year average. In total, 1,79 tonnes of potatoes have been delivered up to the beginning of February (early and storage varieties). This is approximately equal to the five-year average. Between mid-November and the beginning of February, 789.000 tonnes of potatoes were sold, or 15% above the average.

40 percent is free
Belgian growers are not yet saying goodbye to free potatoes easily. In the current season, only 300.000 tonnes of free potatoes were sold, compared to 470.000 tonnes in the five-year average. The sale of contract potatoes is 26% higher than the average. Particularly remarkable is the large quantity of contracted Fontane that was sold, according to Viaverda. Almost 40% of the potatoes that are now in stock with the growers are free. That is almost 1 million tons of potatoes. The amount of contract potatoes in storage is 17% lower. Viaderda does note that the contracts are for net kilos and the free ones are for gross. It is possible that the stock of free potatoes will be 5% to 10% lower in practice.