Potatoes: 04/09/2018

Ex-farm potato prices reported to the IFA

Low High Average

Peeling / Processing (Old Season) €280 €300 €290

Rooster 10kg (Old Season) €3.75 €4.20 €3.80

Rooster Box(New Season) €600 €700 €650

Whites Box (New Season) €600 €650 €625

Queens box €550 €650 €600

Comment: This week, we are seeing most retailers transitioning from old-season to new-season main-crop prepack lines. There will be some overlap over the next few weeks, as there are insufficient quantities of new-season potatoes available to move completely on to the 7.5kg pack size.

This is continuing to drive demand for old-season crop, with many peelers now paying €300/t for product. Queens sales remain firm and farmgate prices have settled at current levels, with a lot of acreage now cleared and growers finished on the market.

With the final production of Queens now predicted to be down by over 60% compared with 2017, there will be no issues moving all crop. In the UK, recent rainfall has been considered to be too little too late and has actually done a lot of harm due to secondary growth, etc.

There are also reports in the UK of processors from mainland Europe actively seeking to purchase potatoes throughout the UK due to the extreme shortages in Europe this season.