Potato prices lag behind in Belgium and France

In Belgium and France, traders and processors are paying less for potatoes than in the Netherlands and Germany, even though drought and heat have caused at least as much damage to yields.Difficult harvesting conditions in France and Belgium, combined with low yields, mean that only small volumes of free-buy potatoes are being offered on the market. However, demand from processors is also limited, as factories are largely being supplied with contracted potatoes.Processing capacity is also somewhat lower than normal at the moment. This is largely due to the small size of the potatoes arriving at factory gates. French fry producers therefore need more potatoes to obtain the volumes of large potatoes required for their production lines.To make as many potatoes as possible available for French fry production, a large volume of starch potatoes has also been bought from Avebe. These potatoes are being used for granulate production, freeing up potatoes originally intended for this purpose for use elsewhere.As reported last week, processors are doing everything they can to keep the market calm for as long as possible. So far, they are succeeding in keeping supply and demand balanced at a low level. Belgian and French quotation committees have set a price of €20 per 100 kilos for the first Fontane potatoes, the main variety used for French fry production.The average contract price for Fontane in Belgium this week is €13.20 per 100 kilos. This is €4.50 lower than in the same week last year, meaning that the contract price at this point in the season is more than a quarter lower year on year. In other words, with a contract for 30 tonnes this year, an additional 6.75 tonnes of free-buy potatoes at €20 per 100 kilos are needed to achieve the same revenue as under last year’s contract.With a yield of 40 tonnes this year, these assumptions result in revenue of just under €6,000 per hectare. Last year, the yield per hectare was already about 7 tonnes higher. With a yield of 47 tonnes and a free-buy price at the time of €1.50 per 100 kilos, revenue per hectare was barely €400 lower. This shows the significant impact of this year’s lower contract price.Large differences for InnovatorIn France, Innovator is quoted at €22 per 100 kilos this week, clearly below prices in the Netherlands and Germany. Reka Rheinland has raised its Innovator quotation to €28 per 100 kilos this week. This also puts the German price slightly above the level in the Netherlands, where PotatoNL quotes €25 to €27.50 per 100 kilos.