Publication author : Jérôme Bonnier – J B Grains SARL
The potato business is a fascinating one. One campaign ends with unsold volumes at rock-bottom prices, and the next arrives with a shortage and crazy prices. Here, everything sells, even waste. The idea of stopping marketing the old crop to make way for the new is no longer relevant. Nature is less and less predictable. One year with very heavy rain, then another with a heatwave. What’s in store for 2019: snow in May? Climatic hazards are good for the profession. Production and stock are regulated naturally, rather than by an algorithm. As is often the case after a year of very high prices, it would appear that there is still an intention to increase surface areas for the 2019 campaign, held back by the lack of plants. The vagaries of the weather have shown that the industry is capable of both the best and the worst in terms of purchase prices. Always on the lookout for the cheapest material, they are quite capable of surprising us with prices that may seem disproportionate to us, but may simply be normal prices for production. On the export front, the last trucks are leaving. A few speculators are still holding out to sell. Will the jackpot of inflated prices arrive? We get a lot of requests that we can’t meet, because of availability and prohibitive prices. Some buyers just can’t keep up. With fridges completely empty earlier than expected, in mid-April, the 2018 campaign should be over. Early marketers will be harvesting tasty potatoes. Consumers will appreciate this. Growers in Mediterranean countries have clearly understood that they have a card to play. The first deliveries from Israel and Egypt have already arrived, with a twenty percent price premium. The first Italian potatoes (Sicily) are scheduled for late March, early April. Portugal and Spain will be present from late April, early May. In Germany, the first early potatoes will arrive in mid-May. Beauce managed to plant a few hectares in February. If all goes well, harvesting will start in early July. Prices are expected to hold up until at least September.
