After the almost immeasurable fall in prices on the potato market in recent weeks, there seems to be some improvement in the situation. You would almost have to say that, because much less is hardly possible.
The space that the potato market is currently creating is partly due to the persistent dry weather. If significant rain does not fall in the foreseeable future, this could be at the expense of the yield per hectare of the first potatoes of the 2025 harvest, which means that the old harvest will have to be continued for a little longer.
Buyer must pay more
Buyers are responding to a possible bump in the road around the transition from season 2024/25 to 2025/26 by, for example, bidding up to €10 for Fontane with the desired quality. The Belgapom quotation of Friday 16 May, €7,50, no longer counts in that sense today, unless they are potatoes that have to be delivered based on quality and often also storability. In that sense, the saying 'what has to be done is often not good' is in force again.
Growers with good potatoes and who can therefore wait to deliver, are not really suppliers. By still being able to do business, buyers come up with constructions such as: deliver at the end of June for a fixed base price that can be stretched against the then applicable Belgapom or Reka quotation of say €12. If the quotations are at a higher price level than €12 by then, participation can be made at 50/50, for example.
Latest Innovators
The last Innovators are currently being cleared at market prices that vary from €11,50 to €15 ex-grower, depending on quality and location (read distance: to factory). A stark contrast to last season's market prices, but also to what was paid just a few months ago (up to €40). The question is where the train will go off the rails with the premium variety where last year people were still running each other off the road when it came to seed potatoes.
In addition to the persistent dry weather, space has also been created by driving a volume of potatoes to the starch factories. The factories have now stopped processing and are entering the seasonal maintenance period to start up again in mid-August.
Fries cleared
Another striking space is created by some processors themselves driving processed end product from the cold stores and cutting it out of the French fry bags with the final destination as animal feed. Apparently, in the course of the nations, raw material of moderate quality has been processed. There is no more room for moderate quality due to the increased global supply of end product.
Making room in the also not free cooling freezers seems to be the credo, talk about a rapidly changing market situation! These actions do not have a direct effect on the potato market towards the growers, but it is interesting background information.