French potato growers have cultivated an additional 5.000 hectares than expected. According to new figures, the area under cultivation has exceeded 200.000 hectares for the first time this year.
Until this week, the French acreage of mid-early and storage potatoes was estimated to have expanded by 24.000 hectares compared to last year. New figures from the statistics agency Agreste indicate that the increase is even significantly greater; an increase of 29.275 hectares. This represents a 17% increase to 200.614 hectares.
Yields also appear to be slightly higher than anticipated a month ago. The new estimate is 42,6 tons per hectare. This is still lower than last year, when 43,7 tons were produced per hectare.
Due to the enormous increase in acreage, production rose to 8,54 million tons. This is over 1 million tons (+14%) more than last year. New growers are primarily driving expansion in France, but existing growers are also planting more potatoes.
Starch potatoes stable
According to Agreste, starch potato production is stabilizing at last year's level. Until now, a 10% drop in production was expected. Here too, it appears that more potatoes have been planted than anticipated.
Earlier this year, a 5% decline in starch potato production was anticipated. The further decline is now limited to 2%. Moreover, starch potatoes are proving to be significantly more productive than anticipated.
The new estimate raises the yield forecast to 46,8 tons per hectare. This is 1 ton more than last year, while last month's forecast expected a decline of over 2 tons per hectare.
As a result, total starch potato production remains at 500.000 tons. This means the industry will process 48.470 tons (11%) more than forecast last month.