Potato market chronicle January 2021

The pandemic is not without consequences for our potato market. The out-of-home catering sector is on life support, with the main consequence that processing plants are slowing down.

Difficulties in sourcing and applying substitute products

The MINs are also slowing down, leaving only the supermarkets to market our potatoes. Households have reverted to their usual purchasing habits after the 1st confinement craze, and continue to prefer “pan-fried” ready meals.

This imbalance leads to a constant demand for 1st category washable products and an amorphous market for second choice and non-washable products, with French operators working to respond favorably to the demands of mass retailers, whether in terms of quality or for the numerous promotions.

Our export markets continue to be marked by the same demand, and prospects for sales of basic products to Eastern Europe remain slim. Marketing is made all the more delicate by the discontinuation of CIPC, and the difficulties in sourcing and applying the products that replace it, leading to a more rapid deterioration in sanitary and physiological condition in storage (mechanical damage and germs).

The future of the market

So what does the future hold? While a certain increase in the price of 1st category products is unavoidable in the short term, it should remain limited by the price of the basic washable product, for which there is currently little demand.

Although average, our production remains sufficient, even surplus, given the limited supermarket market.

I hope that 2021 will lead us to more peaceful paths and more fluid markets. On behalf of the brokers’ union, I would like to wish you and your loved ones an excellent New Year.