News on Potato Stats, Trade, Prices from Belgium

Organisations representing potato farmers in Belgium and France, have started a project (interreg-GEPOS) to look for alternative destinations for potatoes in Belgium and the North of France in seasons marked by large surpluses.

The record year of 2016 for the Belgian potato processing industry continued into 2017, according to Belgapom, the Belgian potato trade and processing industry association.

The North-Western European Potato Growers report on volume and condition of the potatoes still in storage

Europatat, the European Potato Trade Association, has confirmed the dates for its annual Europatat Congress. Under the slogan “Potatoes: a healthy, sustainable and responsible sector”, the 2018 Congress will focus on sustainability.

Although the full harvest is not in the stores yet, the North-Western European Potato Growers (NEPG) estimates the actual harvest at 28.9 million tons for the 5 countries. This is more than the estimate of last September.

For the current European potato harvest, the North-western-European Potato Growers (NEPG) estimate the total potato production at 27.9 million tons for the five NEPG countries (Belgium, Germany, France, The Netherlands and Great Britain). This is up 13.5 percent compared to last season.

Op basis van proefrooiingen en praktijkresultaten verwacht de NEPG een totale oogst van 27,9 miljoen ton aan consumptieaardappelen in Noord-west Europa. Dat is 13,5% hoger dan vorig jaar.

The total consumption potato area in North-Western Europe, has been estimated at 578.821 ha, which is 4.6% more than last year and 8.3% more than the 5 years average, according to the NEPG.

Last week on 15 & 16 June, the Europatat Congress 2017 took place. Feedback on the congress and side events has been extremely positive.

The organizers of the Europatat 2017 Congress in Antwerp from 15 to 17 June announce the addition of a number of high level speakers to the programme

The NEPG (North-Western European Potato Growers) estimates the potato acreage will grow by 3.6% compared to last season.

Under the provocative slogan 'Making the European Potato Trade great again! (it’s gonna be huge, it’s gonna be great, it’s true!)', the Europatat Congress 2017 will focus on two major current issues for the potato sector: plant health and trade.

Jan van Luchene of Bruwier Potatoes, a Belgian company specialized in acquiring and delivering the potatoes you need offers his view of the current potato market in Belgium and Europe.

On the January 1, 2017 the RUCIP European Committee secretariat will be effectively transferred from Paris to Brussels. From the same date a new set of Rules and Practices of the Inter-European Trade in Potatoes (RUCIP) will also start to apply.

The official NEPG (North-Western European Potato Growers) harvest estimation has been adjusted downward to 24.551.000 tons, which is 3 % lower than last year and 3,6 % than the 5 years average.

As a result of the late potato harvest in the North-western European countries (BE, DE, FR, NL, UK), the potato growers organisation NEPG has decided to postpone publication of its annual yield estimates till the third week of November.

Als gevolg van de late aardappeloogst in alle NEPG landen (BE, DE, FR, NL, UK) is besloten om de bekend making van de officiële NEPG oogstverwachting cijfers uit te stellen naar de derde week november.

Starting from the 2016 – 2017 season, the Belgapom quotation will be made up of three parts, each supplemented by their own market sentiment: Bintje, Challenger and Fontane.