Potato processing down 8 percent this season

With a volume decrease of 8%, the Dutch potato processors have managed to limit the damage relatively well this past season. The decline amounts to more than 300,000 tonnes. As in June, more potatoes were processed in July than a year ago. This is shown by the latest processing figures from industry association Vavi. The Dutch factories need not be ashamed of the 292,300 tonnes of potatoes processed during July. The volume is 6% higher than a year earlier, good for 15,600 tonnes more potatoes. These are mainly Dutch potatoes, because imports of foreign product fell by 7% last month compared with 2025. Difficult start That processing in the summer months dips somewhat is a regular seasonal pattern. The figure does not start with a three, but is virtually equal to the volume processed in April and more than at the start of 2026. After a sharp peak in December, the Dutch companies especially struggled in January and February. Of the total potato volume, 128,200 tonnes of prefried fries and 35,200 tonnes of other products were made. Proportionately, more non-fries products were therefore made than in 2025. After a sharp decline in June, the processing yield in July, at 55.9%, surprisingly increased strongly again. Despite being deep in the processing season, growers have therefore managed to supply excellent potato quality. At the start of the storage season, far from everyone had counted on that, when harvesting took place under very dry conditions and some varieties proved highly prone to sprouting. Volume continues to decline After a record volume of 3.984 million tonnes processed in season 2022/23, the Dutch processing industry has never reached that again. In 2024/25, slightly more was still processed than in the previous season, but 2025/26 is turning out somewhat lower as expected. Over twelve months, 3.582 million tonnes of potatoes were processed.