France suddenly cuts 200,000 tons of potatoes

France will lose more than 200,000 tons of potatoes in one go this week. This is the result of a new estimate from the statistics service Agreste of the French Ministry of Agriculture. According to a new estimate, the French harvest of early and storage potatoes this year will be 8.3 million tons. This quantity is 214,317 tons smaller than the previous estimate published in October. Both the area and yield expectations have been revised downwards. The area has been revised down in the new overview to just under 196,000 hectares. Last month, the accountants still expected that the expansion of cultivation would bring the total area of these potatoes over 200,000 hectares. The average yield remains at 42.5 tons per hectare, according to the latest estimate. This means fewer potatoes per hectare than last year, when 43.7 tons per hectare were harvested. The area for early and storage potatoes last year was 171,000 hectares. More starch potatoes The estimate for starch potatoes has been slightly increased compared to last month. Agreste now estimates 513,000 tons of starch potatoes. This is over 13,000 tons more than the estimate last month. Both the cultivation area and yields have been revised upwards. The area is now at 10,771 hectares, which is still 1.3% less than last year. The hectare yields have been increased to an average of 47.6 tons per hectare. Last year, French starch growers harvested 45.8 tons from the land. Despite a smaller area, the production of starch potatoes is nearly 3% larger.