Bélgica: French fries potatoes are sold for feed price

For potato growers who still have free chips in storage, it is particularly difficult to find a buyer. As a result, there is little trade. Some varieties cannot be sold at all. For example, Belgapom has no listing for the Challenger variety this week due to a lack of transactions.

In January and February, the price of French fries potatoes still rose above 30 euros per 100 kilos. A large demand for French fries potatoes of the Innovator variety pushed the entire market up. At the end of February, the market suddenly collapsed. French fries manufacturers withdrew from the market and concentrated on processing contract potatoes.

Lack of demand

In March, the market seemed to stabilize at a price level of 17.50 euros per 100 kilos, but it did not prove to be the bottom on which the market could see out the season. Due to lack of demand and the progress of the storage season, the price continued to crash to a level of 7.50 euros per 100 kilos.

Even at this level there appears to be too little room for the potatoes that urgently need a destination. It pushes the price formation to a level where feed potatoes were paid for earlier this season.

The price development of the last months has brought the potato sector back down to earth. The last two years seemed to be the sky high. A huge wave of investments by French fry producers led to a great potato hunger.

Competition in construction plan

Partly due to the great competition for a place in the construction plan, the contract prices rose considerably. This caused the area of ​​French fries potatoes to expand considerably, especially in France and Germany. Increasing competition on the world market appears to be limiting the sales opportunities to such an extent that the French fries manufacturers have put the increase in the capacity of their factories in North-Western Europe on the back burner.

This means that demand is somewhat smaller. This effect is immediately felt in the free market. A small shift in supply and demand can have major consequences there. If the market is unfavourable, French fry manufacturers can always fall back on the contracted potatoes that fill the largest part of the market. They then do not necessarily have to buy additional raw materials.