Avebe potatoes head to foreign processors

Starch company Avebe has chosen to sell a considerable quantity of potatoes. Through Dutch trade, these potatoes end up in German hands, with a Belgian or German factory as the final destination. The German and Belgian factories use the Avebe potatoes to fill their lines for the production of granulate. Normally, the sorted out smaller processing potatoes are used for this. The planned processing potatoes can therefore still be used for fry production despite their smaller size. Among growers, a large volume is being spoken of, but it is not clear exactly how large the quantity is. The prices circulating also vary. What is clear is that the prices are considerably higher than the price level that Avebe published earlier this year for the 2026 harvest. Including an increase in the full delivery premium, the base price for this year is €57 per ton, or €5.70 per 100 kilos. That amounts to a halving of the price compared with the past two years. Although this year's starch potato harvest is a major disappointment due to drought and heat, the starch company sees a better return from selling a substantial batch of potatoes than from processing them itself. Due to the large production in the past season, there is still a lot of starch in stock. Moreover, the pressure on the starch market is not decreasing at the moment. The sale of the potatoes benefits the collective. That means that the proceeds from the trading activities ultimately flow back to the members via the potato money. Avebe itself says nothing about it. Avebe does not provide information about any trading activities or commercial agreements. This information is confidential and is therefore not shared publicly, the response states. Weuthen reports that it did not buy potatoes directly from Avebe. The German wholesale company is currently, however, clearly a buyer of processing potatoes, as stated on the website. The German buying interest is also reflected in rising prices in Germany. Reka-Rheinland increased the quotations last week by €0.50 for early processing potatoes and €1 for Zorba and Innovator. In the Netherlands and Belgium, the official quotations are stabilizing or are even coming under slight pressure.