Processes a lot of potatoes with minimal effort

A total of 334.700 tons of potatoes were processed by factories, according to figures from the Vavi trade association. While this is 8.800 tons (2,5%) less than in the same month of 2024, given the low expectations and market sentiment, it's a significant boost.

Due to the difficult sales market, several production lines were shut down as early as December 19th for the Christmas break. Other lines followed suit, shutting down for a longer period starting December 24th. Production wasn't restarted until January 5th.

December thus had only three weeks of reasonably high production. Nevertheless, more potatoes were processed than the five-year average. This is remarkable, to say the least. It also represents a slight recovery from November, when significantly fewer potatoes were shipped to factories, at 288.000 tons.

It's also noteworthy that the factories haven't reduced their processing of imported potatoes. The supply from abroad, at 176.500 tons, was exactly the same as in December 2024. This means that just over half of the processing consisted of imported potatoes.

The supply of Dutch potatoes to factories was smaller in December than in previous years. Last month, 158.200 tons of Dutch potatoes were processed. That's 8.800 tons (5,3%) less than last year. This is the smallest quantity of Dutch potatoes in December in more than ten years. In the past, more than 200.000 tons of Dutch potatoes have been processed in December.

From July 2025 onwards, processing will reach 1,78 million tons. This quantity is almost 100.000 tons, or 5%, lower than in the first six months of last season. This decline is actually quite modest considering the challenges the potato market has faced this year.

Over a six-month period, Dutch potatoes accounted for almost 53% of total processing. During this period, slightly more potatoes (939.100 tons) from Dutch soil were processed than in the same period in 2024.