Spain: Potato market is a 'disaster that could turn into chaos'

Potato prices are dropping and its still not over;that's the way professionals from the sector, like producers and warehouse managers define it, due to a slow market movement that causes prices to keep going down.

In fact, despite the clash between all sectors, the potato suffered a drop of 15 Euro per ton in the Jaerla variety and 10 Euro per ton form the red variety. Among the sector professionals one could hear: "the potato market is a disaster and could turn into chaos", remembering the 2009 campaign when the cultivation value reached 0.06 Euro per kilo in average, but went as low as 0.03 Euro.

Although, the difference on sectors is still huge and there was even a producer that threatened to leave the table accusing of melting down the business for farmers. One reality is obvious: the market is halted due a excess in production and almost no consumption in the province.

The only thing saving farmers just now is the production under contract, between 0.13 and 0.14 Euro per kilo, while for the rest of production there's still nothing clear about its evolution in markets.