EU potato harvest higher than expected

Potato production in the 27 Member States of the European Union has turned out higher than previously assumed. New figures from the statistical office Eurostat show that a total of 57 million tonnes of potatoes were harvested in 2025.The revised figure is more than 1 million tonnes higher than the earlier estimate. This means production is 6.2 million tonnes above the 2024 harvest. Compared with the five-year average, the difference is as much as 7 million tonnes.As expected on the basis of increased acreage, the largest production gains were recorded in the Netherlands (+18.6%), Belgium (+21.6%), Germany (+9.2%) and France (+10.4%). Poland and Denmark have also made a substantial contribution. New figures show that Poland harvested just over 7 million tonnes of potatoes in 2025, which is 1.1 million tonnes (18.4%) more than a year earlier.In itself, a harvest of 7 million tonnes in Poland is not particularly remarkable. What stands out is the sharp increase compared with the previous three years. In 2022, 2023 and 2024, production remained at just under 6 million tonnes.The rise in Poland’s production last year is the result of a combination of increased acreage (+9.2%) and higher yields (+8.4%). Yields reached 32.7 tonnes per hectare, which is 2 to 3 tonnes higher than in the preceding three years.Surplus in Poland Not long ago, Poland cultivated potatoes on around 300,000 hectares. Since 2020 (during the coronavirus period), the area declined sharply, reaching a low point of 188,580 hectares in 2023. Over the past two years, the area has increased again by nearly 26,000 hectares. This places Polish growers in a similar position to those in the EU-4. Due to overproduction, an estimated 700,000 to 1 million tonnes of potatoes are currently in storage, with limited market outlets. Denmark is mentioned less frequently among the major potato producers, but production there also rose sharply last year. Eurostat reports an increase of 21% to 3.63 million tonnes. This was driven by a 13.6% expansion in area, while yields increased by 6.6%. At 49 tonnes per hectare, yields were 3 to 4 tonnes higher than in previous years.