potatoes

Production of ware, or eating, potatoes in France is expected to reach around 5.33m tonnes for the 2011/12 campaign, according to a joint press release from the CNIPT (national potato committee) and UNPT (national union of potato producers).

This would represent an increase of some 17.4 per cent over the 2010/11 campaign, when production stood at 4.54m tonnes.

This growth has been attributed to an increase in the production area of around four per cent, as well as a major rise in the average yield, of almost 13 per cent.

However, the organisations warned that waste and outsizing could lessen the increase in volumes sold.