UNPT: The Consumption of Processed Potato Products Registered a Strong Decline

Recent Union Nationale des Producteurs de Pommes de Terre (UNPT) 2020-2021 aggregated data revealed both a strong and a brutal shutdown of the industrial potato, and the French fries markets due to COVID-19 in the 2020-2021 period, with the French out-of-home consumption representing only 50% of the total consumption of processed potato-based products.

UNPT data shows also that the export of frozen potato products over these two years represented 77% of the total export of all products in potato equivalent (by volume).

The 2021 'Corona crisis' impacted also the French starch potato market leading to lower prices.

“2021 yields are located in the lower end of the medium output stats, with a production level of around 1.1m tons. Also, there is an anticipation of disengagement of producers with expected decreases in sown areas over 2022 and 2023,” UNPT experts added in the same respect.

Fresh Potatoes Prices Went Up. So Did the Input Costs

On the fresh market, UNPT experts say that quotations have held up fairly well (around EUR200 per ton) in a market mainly driven by Eastern countries since the beginning of the season. In the industrial market, quotes were positioned slightly above contracts so far (end of 2021-beginning of 2022).

“This is a game-changer compared to the last campaigns, which had been marked by COVID-19 and had seen the quotations fall to a very low level,” UNPT specialists also mentioned.

The same data shows that in October 2021, the increase in the purchase price of inputs continued, with +17.4% compared to October 2020 (after + 12.7% in September). As in the previous months, it was the prices of fertilizers and energy that strongly increased over one year, with + 68.5% and + 39.9% respectively.

“Fertilizer prices are accelerating, with in particular a doubling of the price of nitrogen fertilizers over one year,” according to UNPT, citing Agreste data.