POTATO MARKETS WEEKLy

摘要

Although there has been some improvement in prices this week, the gains have been small and will not encourage growers to buy more seed. One explanation of the dismal returns has been provided by the German statistics agency, which has raised its 2004harvest estimate by 430 900 tonnes to 13.044 million tonnes. More extra earlies are being grown in Spain, while the latest 2004 estimates for Spain confirm that yields reached new record levels. A seed price slump in India has encouraged late crop plantings but these will be lower yielding because of the higher temperatures from next month onwards. Global sales of frozen potato products are falling, according to the US Department of Agriculture. Commission food safety experts are preparing the ground for a crucial meeting with Russia to fend off a threatened ban on plant product imports. Russia has banned imports of Belgian flowers and pot plants, but not potatoes. More cases of brown rot have been found in Egyptian new potatoes. In this issue we report on German trade in dehydrated and starch products, on the forthcoming Europatat Congress, on the new marketing campaign for Cornish earlies, on Slovakian supplies and on the February sales increase reported by McDonald's. There are unresolved legal problems in England relating to entitlements to receive Single Farm Payments on potato growing land. The euro is steady today at 1 EUR= 1.3383 dollar, ￥139.74 and ￡0.6962 and Polish farmers will be relieved at the fall in the Zloty to 1 EUR= Pin 4.0054.