The total potato production in the Netherlands and Belgium is back to pre-MY 06/07 levels. The average yield in 2007 is estimated to be 13% higher than the previous year's yield, although there are big differences between the various soil types and types of potatoes.
Netherlands
Total potato production1 in the Netherlands for 2007 is estimated to be 7 million MT, up 0.85 million MT compared to the 2006 production. This increase is the result of a slightly higher harvested acreage2 and, more importantly, an increase in yield per hectare (especially on the sandy and peat soils). The average yield in 2007 is estimated to be 13% higher than the previous year’s yield, although there are big differences between the various soil types and types of potatoes. More detailed information on the 2006 harvest can be found in GAIN report NL6038 and more detailed production figures can be found in Appendix I.
Of the total production of potatoes for consumption in the Netherlands, in Marketing Year 2006/2007 (MY 06/07), almost 2.0 million MT has been used for further processing. In addition, over 1.1 million MT potatoes were imported from neighboring countries to fully utilize processing capacity of potato processors. The production of potatoes for consumption for this marketing year (MY 07/08) is estimated to be 3.5 million MT. Almost a third is destined for the fresh market and the remaining will find its way to the processing industry.
Above table shows that the output of potato products in MY 06/07 was lower than previous marketing years, the main reason for this is the disappointing harvest, in both quantity and quality, in 2006. Since the 2007 harvest is expected to be back around 7 million MT, FAS/The Hague expects the output of potato products for this MY to be similar to pre-MY 06/07 years.
Belgium
Industry sources in Belgium have indicated that the production of potatoes for consumption for 2007 is estimated to be 3 million MT. The higher production in 2007 is, like in the Netherlands, the result of a higher yield per hectare. The average yield in 2007 is estimated to be around 45 MT per hectare (somewhat lower than in the Netherlands), while the harvested acreage remains around 65,000 hectares. Potato plants in Belgium process around 2 million MT potatoes per year. The industry is, similar to the Dutch situation, strongly focused on the production of pre-fried potato products for export markets. The output of pre-fried potato products is estimated to be around 1 MT (product weight). No official figures are available for Belgium.
1 Production includes not only the production of potatoes for consumption and seed potatoes, but also starch potato.
2 This estimate is based on actual planted acreage; the historical average of harvested acres is ninety-seven percent and no deviations are expected for this year.
