Most stakeholders in the potato market have been looking around for a few weeks now, surprised and perhaps also bewildered by the rapid decline in the various potato quotations, if they even quote at all. It has almost become a market without any demand.
The Belgapom listing for Fontane on Friday 18 April clearly left nothing to be desired by decreasing by €3,50 and thus ending up at €12,50 with the mood 'calm'. The German REKA listing, which came a day earlier because of Good Friday, was already a harbinger by putting €12,50 for Fontane on the board. Today followed by the now most authoritative listing of the EU-4 countries, Belgapom.
We have to go back to spring 2021 (week 16 harvest 2020) when the corona period was coming to an end and the Belgpom quotation was €7,50. Last year (2024) and the year before (2023) Belgapom quoted €16 in week 35. The expectation for a similar trend this season was also there until a few weeks ago, but as it now turns out, it did not come true at all. Hence the surprised look around of many stakeholders in the potato market.
Exception
The Dutch PotatoNL quotation remains the exception to the other EU potato quotations. The relatively high quotation compared to the countries surrounding the Netherlands shows a picture that has not done justice to the European mood and thus the real situation since the market fell. The fact is that in recent weeks no more potatoes have been traded on the published quotations and that would now even apply to the potatoes supplied with the processors that have to pay for.