Potato Markets Weekly

摘要

Growers hoping to make a killing by storing free-buy stocks of old crop potatoes into May and June have been severely disappointed. Prices of processing potatoes in the Netherlands and Belgium are now lower than they were in November last year, British prices are similar to that level and only the French market was still ahead when the last quotation was issued on Friday. The Continental price collapse has however not extended to Poland, where the market remains steady. April 2008 processing contractprices at the RMX Hanover market have also fallen, to today's closing level of 119/tonne EUR. New crops are looking well and the first processing supplies should be available by the end of this month, but there are more reports of low tuber numbers. Dutch seed growers have submitted an area of 35 882 hectares for certification this year, 0.9% less than were submitted in 2006. The key question however will be the planted area of ware potatoes. The area of Spunta and Bintje seed has fallen again but Innovator and Fontane have shown strong increases. The US area of autumn potatoes is expected to be 0.2% larger, at just over 400 000 hectares according to NAPMN, with the increase being confined to the western states. The new crop market is said to be competitive in France but German growers appear to be in a good position. Movement faltered last week in Britain but is still well ahead for the season to date. In this issue we report on Dutch exports of fries and of seed potatoes, on The Real Potato .BrandCo. being offered in Britain by Branston Ltd. and on BASF hoping to gain approval for this year for cultivating its Amflora variety.