Dutch potato processing at five-year low

The low potato price is no incentive for processors to turn over extra volume. Moreover, in the last five years, there have not been so few potatoes processed in a month as in the past August. However, it should be noted that relatively few potatoes have been imported and the processing yield is high. In August, 268,200 tons of potatoes were processed, as evidenced by the new figures from the Association of the Potato Processing Industry (Vavi). July and August are typically not the best months for processing due to the transition between old and new harvests. This season, there has been no extra incentive to process more potatoes due to limited demand for the end product despite a low potato price. In fact, since May 2020 (mid-corona), there have not been so few potatoes processed. A positive point for Dutch growers is that relatively few potatoes from abroad have been processed. 45.3% or 121,600 tons of the processed potatoes came from abroad. The processing yield is high at 58.1%. For comparison, the five-year average stands at 56.1%. The most logical explanation for the high processing yield is that processors only collect the really good potatoes. The choice is huge, we might think. Although the amount of potatoes that have been processed is not particularly spectacular, due to the high processing yield, 138,600 tons of pre-fried fries were produced compared to 136,140 in the five-year average. The amount of other frozen potato products in August was 17,300 tons.