This week too, there is still no light at the end of the tunnel of the 2024/25 French fry potato season. The market remains shrouded in a deep black color, and it does not seem that this will be good for the last potatoes of the season that is yet to end.
Belgapom was quoted unchanged today at €5. There is also no point in listing lower, because despite the extremely low price, there is still no demand. Where a lower price normally creates more demand, this does not apply to the market dominated by contract potatoes.
The unbridled urge of processors to build more processing capacity does not seem to be able to be used, despite the fact that the price of raw materials (potato price) has never been so low (except for the corona year). It is clear that the surplus of potatoes must be given a different destination than processing, since no processor in Europe is a buyer of potatoes. In addition, the new potatoes are eager to be dug out of the ground. These are ready to be harvested in a number of areas, but there is no room for that in the market yet either.
Hard blow
In the meantime, a number of processors have started to also turn their (expensive) contract potatoes into feed. This is an economic consideration. They can collect the contract potatoes and process them to then store the fries in the cold store in the hope of finding a buyer for them. The chances of this happening are very small, which is why processors decide that the first loss is the best loss. As a result, not all contract potatoes are processed, but are transported to animal feed for a few cents.
Rarely seen
An extremely bizarre development, since processors were buying potatoes for €60 per 100 kilos around this time last year. This means that the current market can only be compared to the corona season when processors also sold their potatoes en masse in animal feed. During corona, the demand for fries had completely disappeared due to the closure of all catering establishments in the world. That is not the case at all now.
That the feed price has come under considerable pressure as a result seems a logical consequence. At the end of May, Potato.nl suddenly quoted higher feed potatoes, which was surprising and caused a lot of extra supply. The market then dropped back to the lowest level of this season.
Question marks
Potato.nl still maintains a top price of €12 (category 1 price €4 to €12). This raises some questions here and there. In a survey of market parties, it appeared impossible to find buyers for potatoes for €12. Top varieties such as Agria, Markies and Innovator are also offered for much lower prices without a buyer being enthusiastic about them. This week, a large batch of Agria was traded from mechanical cooling, in crates for €4.