Kartoffeln News, 07/28/2023

In June, significantly fewer potatoes were bought by private households compared to the same week last year (-7.2%). Overall, consumer purchases fell by 0.4% compared to the previous year. With regard to May, sales have fallen significantly. So far more tubers have been bought here than in previous years. The market observers mainly attribute the decline in June to the fact that the public holidays were early this year and the temperatures were also relatively high, so that fewer goods could be sold in the food retail trade. New offers and special offers should boost sales in the food retail trade again in the next few weeks. On the processing market, the Belgians have started to process the early varieties. The tense supply situation has improved somewhat and the prices are slightly weaker, but the processors are still queuing up and trying to get the free lots. There are also reports of delays due to insufficient sizes and some quality issues. The yields of the early varieties have so far been very heterogeneous. 20 to 25 tons per hectare have been reported on non-irrigated areas.Up to 40 tons could be fetched from the fields with sprinkler systems. In this country, too, there are hardly any old-crop tubers to be found. Although early potatoes can already be harvested regionally, the domestic range is still supplemented by imported potatoes.