Kartoffeln News, 01/05/2024

From a price perspective, the potato market as a whole appears to be stable at the start of the year. Although prices are never going up everywhere again, with manageable sales, mostly unchanged prices are reported for processed goods . France's potato cultivation will also have increased significantly in 2023, as preliminary figures now show. Accordingly, a total of 7.1 million tons were cleared. Processing potatoes in particular were increasingly grown. Also because Belgian processors are increasingly taking farmers from France under contract. But the demand has increased in the domestic market. Consumers are increasingly demanding frozen products here. In this country there are more offers of distressed lots around the turn of the year. These can be absorbed quickly and are not currently impacting price developments. Fast food varieties are particularly sought after in Germany. There has been no turnover on the EEX since Christmas. Prices remain stable and buyers and sellers are sometimes far apart. As expected, demand on the food market decreased after the holidays and calmed down. Nevertheless, retailers are very satisfied with sales at the beginning of the year.Cross-border loading also continues to run at a good level. Overall, however, volume sales have developed lower, as is typical of the season. However, inventory surcharges can still be achieved. There is also still good demand from Eastern Europe.