Spain (Castilla y León): With the price agreed with the industry, potato producers fear covering costs

Farmers are waiting for the start of potato planting, with the preparation of the work delayed due to the rains in Salamanca. In principle, they begin at the end of the month and end in Castilla y León in mid-April, although it depends on the area. There are already contracts signed with industry with a price starting at 0.21 euros/kilo, which creates doubts among farmers due to the difficulty in saving costs. According to Alberto Duque, president of the Potato Interprofessional of Castilla y León and who will take over from Juan Sandonís, a recent study points to a cost of between 12,000 and 13,000 euros/hectare, for which he estimates expenses between 0.27-0.30. He points out that in France contracts are signed between 0.25-0.27.

Other sources in the sector point to large differences in costs depending on the area; seed (this campaign the price is high again); type of irrigation; or time of cultivation in the land. Even so, farmers consulted warn that even with costs of 10,000 euros/hectare, productions of 50,000 kilos and prices of 0.20 are necessary to save costs, when last year the average in Salamanca was 43.39 tons/hectare, according to the advance of surface area and production prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture with data from November: it was 48 tons/hectare on average in the 2022-23 campaign in Salamanca and 46.91 in 2023-24. Julián Palomero, one of the main warehousemen in Salamanca and also a farmer, maintains that the costs per hectare of potatoes are 6,000/7,000 euros per hectare and he also disagrees with the average production obtained in Salamanca last year, which he maintains was 35 tonnes per hectare. "If someone is going to have costs of 12,000/13,000 euros, it is better for them not to plant," he says.

The price of the last campaigns does encourage sowing. According to the Junta Observatory, the average price in Salamanca in 2022-2023 was 34.53 euros/tonne; in 2023-2024, 29.91: and in the last one, 32.84. There is also concern about the health of the seed, which has caused problems in areas of Andalusia.

The surface area is expected to be similar to that of the previous campaign, when 4,725 hectares were sown in Salamanca. Although there are voices within the sector that point to increasing the hectares, the Interprofessional Association calls for caution. Duque warns of the problem of having excess production, with strong competition from potatoes from Egypt. He advocated that potatoes from third countries "be produced under the same conditions as in Spain."