Dutch Potato Processors are taking it slow in July

The potato processing companies in the Netherlands have used significantly less potatoes in the month of July.

According to data published by "Bureau Aardappelmarkt Informatie", the volume of potatoes used for the production of french fries, potato flakes and potato granules in July was only 189.200 tons. This is 83.000 tons less compared to June and 70.000 less then last year.

A lack of sufficient potato supply at the end of the storage season is seen as the main cause for the low production volume. It is suggested that current stocks of finished products is very low.

The change-over to potatoes of the new harvest has not been without incidents either. Early potatoes suitable for french fries developed slowly and yield was low. Therefore it is expected that processing volume for August will be low as well.

The low processing volume in July, caused the annual processing volume in the Netherlands to drop below 3,5 million tons (3.417.600 ton vs 3.543.400 ton between August 2011 through July 2012)