Market reports: Potato prices continue to slide

Potato prices slipped again last week, as availability increased and contracted supplies dominated packing movement.

The Potato Council’s provisional weekly average price dropped by £4.54/t to £117.44/t in the week to 9 September, which is £33.48/t less than at the same time last year. The free market average was steadier, easing only slightly to £101.06/t, but with a bigger gap of £56.59/t compared with 2010.

Lifting progress was about a week ahead of last season, with 38,015ha (93,897 acres) harvested by 9 September – about 30% of the crop.

“The health of the crop is generally good, although some cases of blackleg and greening are apparent,” said the Potato Council’s latest report.

In England, rain interrupted harvest progress, but improved lifting conditions on drier soils. “More growers have now commenced lifting into store.” However, in Scotland, soils were saturated, and the general start to storage was still a week or two away.

“Contracted supplies continued to dominate packing movement, with orders for free-buy material more limited,” said the report. “In the bag trade, more growers turned to lifting into store as an alternative to loading, which has limited the availability of supplies. Demand was unchanged, but frying samples became on the light side.”

Market reports