Starch potato processor Royal Avebe achieved a performance price of €2020 per tonne for the 2021-93,30 financial year. The cooperative will announce this on 23 November. The result is €2,85 below the price of the previous season. According to Avebe, this is due to pressure on the starch market due to a better harvest throughout Europe.
The performance prize is a combination of the cooperative result and the potato money. That first item amounts to €9,2 million. The performance price serves as a financial indicator for the cooperative. This amount is not physically paid out to member growers. They receive the campaign prize, which takes potato quality into account.
More potatoes, more starch
According to the potato processor, the lower result can be traced back to pressure on the prices of native starch. In addition, costs are rising due to the corona crisis reports It. Relatively high performance awards were presented in the past two seasons. Especially because there was a shortage in the market due to drought and the resulting high starch price. The 2020 cultivation year went better than the two previous years, resulting in better yields. Not only in the Netherlands, but also elsewhere in Europe. In addition, the area of starch potatoes expanded. This resulted in a lower price for native starch.
In 2018-19, Avebe achieved a performance price of €96,63 per tonne. In the 2019-20 season that was €96,15. The cooperative result is considerably higher for the 2020-21 season. This has increased from €5,2 and €8,7 to €9,2 million. During the dry years, Avebe drew on the cooperative result to supplement the potato money, where normally a maximum of 40% is paid out.
Investment in protein
The processor's long-term strategy says it has created more added value. Instead of bulk product, as many innovative products as possible are produced. Because the demand for vegetable protein is increasing, there is also more demand for potato starches and protein. Avebe has significantly increased its capacity to extract vegetable protein in recent years. Significant investments have also been made in 2020-21. This investment was previously postponed due to the coronavirus.
Avebe has been affected by the corona crisis in various ways. For example, transport was an issue and fewer containers were available. In addition, there is the health of employees and more infections. Meanwhile, the costs for energy, raw materials, packaging materials and transport have all risen sharply for the royal company.
Performance price still on track
"Growers are also faced with significant cost increases for potato cultivation," says chairman David Fousert. “It is necessary to continuously increase the performance price. We do this through our strategy to produce high-quality products. We are still on track to achieve our strategic goals, including a performance price of €100 by financial year 2024-25. This despite the impact of the corona crisis and market conditions."
Fousert took over in May this year Bart Jansen, who was chairman of the board for 13 years. Fousert comes from feed company ForFarmers and previously worked at Cargill for a long time.