The Potato Bingo, where potatoes are sold completely at random, shows a sensational result for the harvest year 2024. Never before in the history of bingo has such a high sales result been achieved. What is the secret?
Over the harvest year 2023, a record of €30 per 100 kilos was already achieved by the bingo. That was then a few euros higher than the old record, which dated from 2018. The sales season 2024/25 will surpass that by a hair. The average sales price is €30,43 per 100 kilos.
Sold well early
The secret of bingo lies mainly in the sales moments. A lot of volume was sold relatively early on the futures market, before the price dip came from February. Only in the period week 10 to 15 was €20,80 noted. The peak was in the period week 26 to 31. Then there was €39,60 on the boards and in the period before that €38,80.
Subsequently, the realized prices all fluctuated between €28 and €30, which contributes to the high average result. Even if you only include the closing prices in the period after harvest, the result still comes out at a respectable €27,83.
PotatoNL unexpectedly high
How does the bingo result hold up compared to the other price instruments? Unfortunately, there are not many of them anymore. The DCA PAT Index is no longer active this season. PotatoNL is, but it only started recording in January. Despite the sharply lower prices for category 1 since February, the average result still comes to €35,66. Especially because the tail end of the previous season is also included, when the price rose to €62,50. The April contract comes to an average of €29,75 in the period.
Normally, the Potato Bingo is a good indicator for the potato pools, which will present their results later this year. This year, that rule does not apply at all. Only when a pool committee has decided to sell a lot of volume early on can the loss be limited, as is the case in bingo. That is usually not how a pool works, which sells approximately the same volume every month. If, between the end of February and the end of June, sales are made for particularly low prices, that will have a major impact on the final result.
Difficult trading
If we compare the result of the bingo with the contract prices, then the difference is not that big. The average price for Fontane in week 17 is €27 and that of Innovator €29,41. The potato futures market may have achieved a good result, the second question is whether you as a grower have been able to profit from this in practice. Very few contracts were traded, which made it difficult for growers to sell. A considerable volume was traded at the end of October and then again in November on a few days. After that, trading was very thin.
At the beginning of June, the bingo machine will be turned for the seventeenth time in the Boerenbusiness studio to determine the sales moments for the 2025 harvest. A total of nine balls are drawn. One for each sales period, which is divided into blocks of six weeks. Each number corresponds to the trading day on which the potatoes are fictitiously sold. The closing price on the futures market is included in the bingo result.