Overproduction across Europe has pushed UK potato prices to their lowest level since 2014 amid concerns that some growers aren’t fully aware of their production costs.
Average annual potato prices, according to the AHDB’s recently launched Potato Data Centre, have fallen from £194.62 per tonne last year to £142.19 per tonne (at present) in 2017, with planted area increasing in the UK, Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands.
This represents a 27 per cent reduction in British prices, and some growers are complaining that returns aren’t currently high enough to cover their costs.
“There are a lot of growers selling product and not really knowing what it costs to produce per tonne,” explained Finlay Dale, export and breeding coordinator at Scottish producer Caithness Potatoes. “A lot of growers have fallen below what it costs to produce.”
According to Dale, potato growers throughout Europe have “put an extra two to three per cent in the ground, and that has consequences all the way down the line, especially in the fresh market.”
Asked whether there needs to be more coordination between growers to prevent this from happening again in future, Dale said it was very unlikely that growers would share information on the acreage they plan to plant.
“Some countries are more coordinated than the UK, and I’ve always thought it was a good idea,” he said. “That’s not me saying I don’t want to see competition but there is an element of undercutting.”
Despite these concerns, George Christoudias, sales and marketing director at Branston, remains confident the market will “balance out” due to lower-than-anticipated yields.
“There is some overproduction but yields are maybe not where everybody thinks they are,” he said. “We’re just getting to the stage now where we can understand that more fully.”
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