Potatoes: 24/04/2018

Ex-farm potato prices reported to the IFA

Comment: The potato market continues to remain buoyant, notwithstanding that sales are slightly slower this week. With growers under pressure to get tillage operations under way, many have prioritised this over grading this week, which has reduced supply in the market. There was some progress made on potato planting over the weekend. However, this came to a halt with the arrival of more rain. This planting season is certainly a departure from the norm, with the progress in main crop plantings now further advanced in Donegal than parts of the south and southeast. Growers still considering planting of earlies will need to be aware that the market window has now considerably narrowed and will therefore need to plan their acreage accordingly. Elsewhere, in the UK and Europe, good progress has been made on the drier land. However, heavy areas are very slow to dry and plantings are running up to three weeks behind schedule.