The early season potato harvest has begun, and prices are relatively high, double the price of last year's early crop. Mintec Benchmark Prices for Processing Potato Fontane Belgium [Mintec Code: POFO] were assessed at €550/mt on 25th July, a year-on-year increase of (y-o-y) 175%. The EU Mars crop update report for July 2023 revised potato yields down by 3% since the June report. The projected yield forecast now stands at 34.4 tonnes per hectare, which remains 1% higher than the five-year average.
Within the North-west European Potato Growers (NEPG) region, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands are expected to have lower crop yields than their five-year averages. However, France's yield is anticipated to increase by 5% compared to last year's figures. Germany is forecast to achieve the best yields in the NEPG and EU at 41.5 tonnes per hectare, a 3% improvement over Germany's five-year average.
Despite the readjustment to the overall EU yield forecast, market sources remain concerned that the actual crop yield and overall production might fall short of the forecasts after the lack of precipitation earlier in the year may have affected crop development.
The preliminary estimate from the NEPG for the 2023 planted area and a weighted forecast of potato yields from the EU Commission’s July Mars report gives an estimated NEPG production level of 21.09 million tonnes, down 2.8% on the year, representing a 4.7% decrease from the five-year average.
