Potato Prices & Commentary

The fine weather over the past week has stifled demand for potatoes somewhat, however, demand remains adequate for the available supplies.

With most of the premier gone from the south and south east, growers in the Dublin area are now harvesting their first earlies. The supply of queens has improved, however, once the early plantings are finished their will be a gap in the market until the March plantings are fit for harvest.

Buyers are reporting that customers are favouring the Irish earlies over imported product due to the superior eating quality of the home produced potatoes.

In Europe, many countries and in particular Belgium are suffering from drought conditions. Despite the increase in acreage, production volumes could be severely affected and this was reflected in the sudden increase of the European futures price by over €40 per tonne at the end of last week.

Ex-farm potato prices reported to IFA

Ex-Farm Potato Prices reported to IFA

More of the outdoor,  first early  Irish potatoes have appeared on  the market this week.

This is two weeks earlier than last year and should give a longer window for sales of all early potatoes this year. Initial reports suggest that eating quality is very good however, as always growers need to remain patient and ensure immature product is not placed on the market. No large quantities of early,  southern European potatoes have entered the market here and those that have are on the expensive side. The early crop across northern Europe has been delayed by up to two weeks due to the frosts in April. Old season potato stocks are now very thin on the ground across the region and prices remain strong. The warmer weather here in Ireland has affected consumption however it is still normal for the time of year. The combination of small stocks; the seasonal improvement in the peeling market and grower confidence will keep farm gate prices on the high side for the remainder of the season.

Ex-Farm Potato Prices reported to IFA

 

	Low	High	Average
Rooster Box	€320	€360	€340
Rooster 10kg	€3.50	€4.00	€3.75
Kerr’s Pinks 10kg	€3.20	€3.60	€3.30
Whites Box	€300	€330	€310
Golden Wonder 10kg	€5.50	€6.00	€5.75

 

The first of the outdoor early potatoes hit the market this week. These premier and home guard were planted in January however, there will be very limited supply in the market until March, when planted crops come on stream. These crops are currently returning €18/10kg box ex-farm but yields are described as very light.

Prices for old season crop are holding firm, with some growers in the wholesale market securing increases again this week. Growers who are not pushing for price increases need to evaluate their production costs, as they are not accounting for storage costs. At this stage, it has cost growers at least €70/tonne to store potatoes until now and to be still receiving prices which are the same as last January is unsustainable.