One person’s suffering is not always another person’s happiness – this also applies to the current situation of potato farmers. Due to the good potato harvest and ample supply, prices at the producer level are rather poor. But consumers are not benefiting from this, says potato market expert Christoph Hambloch of Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft (AMI) in Bonn.
On average, farmers currently receive no more than ten euros per 100 kilograms, Hambloch said, especially with regards to companies in northern Germany. However, prices in supermarkets are often more than 1.50 euros per kilogram. “Consumer prices are sometimes ten to 15 times higher than the prices farmers get,” Hambloch explains.
There’s no reason to cheer
Although consumer prices fell by an average of seven cents compared to the previous year, he said they are still high, Hambloch said. Prices have been a disaster for farmers this year, but consumers have no reason to be happy either. The entire supply chain, from packaging companies to logistics to food retailers, also wants to make money.
The main reason for low prices at the producer level is the significant expansion of potato cultivation. In Germany, the area planted with potatoes increased by almost 7 percent last year to more than 300,000 hectares, said Sebastean Schwarz, managing director of the German Potato Industry Union (Unika) in Berlin.
Potato harvest increased by five percent
According to Schwarz, the harvest increased by more than 5 percent this year. Potato cultivation and harvest volumes have also expanded in neighboring European countries. As one of the main producers in Europe, Germany relies on exports of table and processing potatoes.
But Germany faces competition from abroad: “New competitors, China, India and other countries, have entered the global market for frozen French fries and demand for European goods has also fallen due to the strength of the euro,” explains Schwarz.
The purchase amount is regulated by the delivery contract
What many laypeople don’t know: Potatoes are grown specifically by variety for a specific purpose. There are differences between table potatoes, processed potatoes for example for fries or chips, starchy potatoes and seed potatoes. The trade-off between these uses is difficult, explains Schwarz: Starchy potatoes are unpalatable for direct consumption, and seed potatoes cannot be used for processing.
One of the consequences of this specialization is that the number of deliveries agreed in the previous year has been agreed, especially for potatoes that will be processed into chips, dumplings or French fries. In a year with a good harvest, demand can be met, and potatoes grown without contractual obligations will find no buyers. “This is especially important this year given the large harvest across Europe and producers who did not negotiate purchasing agreements last year will have to look for alternative recycling options,” Schwarz said.
Only in some cases do potatoes remain in the field
This can even result in unused potatoes being thrown into biogas plants or used as animal feed. “Because storage is too expensive and takes up space and energy,” explained the Main Director of Unika. In addition, the shelf life of potatoes is also limited.
From Hambloch and Schwarz’s point of view, reports of farmers leaving their unsellable potatoes in the fields refer to individual cases. Unharvested potatoes in the ground can transmit disease, Hambloch said. This sometimes happens – “especially if the company decides not to grow potatoes in the future,” explains Schwarz.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:251116-930-298481/1
