The potato harvest in the European Union this year will be at the same level as in 2017. Germany and France, in particular, are producing more potatoes than eight years ago, but this is more than offset by the fact that fewer potatoes are now being grown in Poland and Romania.
This year, the total production of French fries, seed potatoes, table potatoes, and starch potatoes in the 27 member states of the European Union will amount to just under 55,9 million tons. This figure is based on provisional figures from the Eurostat statistical office, updated with information from national statistics.
Due to significant expansion in Germany and France over the past two years, these countries are by far the largest potato producers in the EU. France cultivates potatoes on approximately 244.000 hectares, of which just under 196.000 hectares are ware potatoes, excluding early potatoes.
Total potato production in France is rising to around 10,2 million tons. This represents a major step forward for French potato cultivation, which in previous years fluctuated between 8 and 9 million tons.
In Germany, the area under cultivation has increased this year to just over 300.000 hectares. This, combined with good yields, brings total production to 13,4 million tons. This means Germany, like France, is producing a record amount of potatoes.
High yields in 2017
For European potato growers, 2017 was a year of very high yields per hectare. In Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands, yields averaged 46 to 48 tons per hectare. French growers also achieved an exceptional yield, for their part, of 44 tons per hectare.
This year, yields in these countries are nowhere near the high level of 2017, except in the Netherlands. A peak of 53,5 tons per hectare of ware potatoes raises the average yield in the Netherlands this year to 48 tons per hectare. That's 2 tons more than the 46 tons in 2017. In Germany and France, yields are more than 2 tons lower than eight years ago. In Belgium, due to drought, yields of 41,4 tons are nowhere near the 47,6 tons of 2017.
All in all, the average yield in the EU-27 this year is around 37,8 tons per hectare. That's 3 tons more than the 34,8 tons in 2017. This difference can be explained by a significant shift in area from Eastern to Western Europe. As a result, the same number of potatoes are now being produced on a smaller area than in 2017.
Area shift
The total potato area in the 27 Member States is 1,48 million hectares this year, almost 8% smaller than the 1,6 million hectares in 2017. This difference is therefore more than offset by yields that have increased by 8,5% due to the shift in area to Western Europe.
The shift to Western Europe is due to an exploding French fry industry in Northwest Europe. The enormous capacity expansion in Belgium and Northern France, combined with sharply increased contract prices, has given potato cultivation in Germany and France a huge boost.
In Belgium, processing capacity has been expanded from approximately 4,5 million tons to 6 to 7 million tons. And in France, it has doubled from 1 to over 2 million tons. In addition, the Netherlands has processing capacity for the production of potato consumer products of over 4 million tons, and in Germany, around 2 million tons.
Starch and seed potatoes
This increase in processing also requires more seed potatoes, which has boosted the development of specific varieties for potato processing. Meanwhile, starch potato production has declined significantly. This is particularly true in France, but in the Netherlands, the acreage has also remained limited to less than 40.000 hectares over the past two years. Nevertheless, starch potato production is expected to rise this year to over 1,8 million tons, bringing the harvest back to its usual level of around 45.000 hectares. In 2016 and 2017, the harvest was even higher, at 1,9 million tons.
Dutch seed potato growers are expected to have achieved record production of around 1,6 million tons. This puts the yield on par with years in which more than 43.000 hectares of seed potatoes were grown. So far, 2022 stands as a record in Statistics Netherlands' records, with 1,59 million tons grown on 43.157 hectares and a yield of 37 tons per hectare.