Low prices and residual stock plague early potato campaign in France and Spain

Julio 23, 2009
French and Spanish potato growers show concern on this year's early potato campaign.

In France, during a meeting held in Rennes in early July, Western France's producers explained their difficulties to find room on the supermarket's shelves for their products, mainly due to large retailers' tendency to buy last year's potatoes rather than the new ones.

"Year after year the situation is worsening,"says Pierre Gélébart, product manager at Prince de Bretagne, to the French magazine Végétable. "The beginning of the season shifts from mid-May to early June, or even mid-June. Moreover, we are selling now in a week the volumes we used to sell in a day."

Spain's National Association Fruit and Potatoes Production and Trade (ASONAL) reports a comparable situation in Spain.
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