Potato futures market closes definitively

The potato futures market in Leipzig will end on June 5, 2026. The last day on which contracts can be traded is June 4. Trading in contracts for the 2026 harvest was suspended on Monday. With the end of the futures market, the EEX is also stopping the compilation of the EEX European Processing Potato Index. This so-called cash settlement index will be published for the last time on June 4. The end of the potato futures market had been expected for some time. Fewer and fewer contracts were being traded on the exchange. This season, trading decreased to the point that futures market organizer EEX decided to pull the plug. The futures market in Leipzig is one of the successors of what was once the potato futures market in Amsterdam. The Dutch Liquidation Fund and the Foundation Potato Futures Market started the potato futures market in Amsterdam in 1958. In the first year, 18,018 contracts were concluded, wrote researchers Wierenga and Meulenberg in the report 'The Dutch Futures Market for Potatoes: Guide and Risk Coverage for the Natural Market'. For years, the potato futures market was a major exchange in Amsterdam. In the early days, physical delivery was still the norm upon contract expiry. Later, contracts were cash-settled. Additionally, put and call options were introduced to stimulate trading in the futures market. After the futures market in Amsterdam stopped, trading continued at the futures market in Hannover. It then moved to Leipzig and came under the umbrella of the EEX. End of an era This is the end of an era, responds Kees Maas, who, along with Edwin Burgers, is director of ADM Investor Services BV (formerly DCA Finance BV), which also offered services on this futures market. It is very unfortunate that this instrument is disappearing. The futures market was incredibly helpful in valuing the sentiment and expected price of potatoes. There is now one less instrument to cover price risks. Maas and Burgers have been active in the potato futures market for decades. In recent years, they have developed various instruments to hedge price risks through the futures market. For example, they were the founders of click contracts that allowed growers to lock in their prices during the season. According to Maas and Burgers, the sector will now need to develop new instruments to determine the expected value for potatoes and to translate market sentiment into a value. For potato pools and independent growers, it will become very challenging to interpret the price over time. Maas: Without an expected price, potato cultivation shifts increasingly towards 100% contract farming. It will be increasingly difficult to extract value from the market.