World Potato Markets briefing

Good crop establishment in the spring and irrigation means the GB potato crop largely weathered the summer drought, although storage challenges remain, writes Cedric Porter from World Potato Markets.

There are no official figures for the size of the UK potato crop, but World Potato Markets estimates it at 4.9 million tonnes. That would be 300,000 tonnes less than Defra figures for the 2024 crop, although industry estimates suggest that only 4.7 million tonnes were grown last year. The volume of potatoes this year appears to be more than adequate for the moment, despite it only being the sixth crop under five million tonnes on record. A dry and easy planting season meant potatoes rooted deeply and, in many cases, were boosted by regular irrigation and low blight pressure. Growers face the challenge of maintaining quality in store.

World Potato Markets estimates that EU production is up 5% on 2024 at 53.0 million+ tonnes, the largest crop since 2017. The combined German, French, Dutch and Belgian crop is almost 35 million tonnes, the highest ever, with the French crop approaching 10 million tonnes – 40% more than a decade ago. With EU frozen chip exports under pressure from competition from China, India and Egypt, the surplus of potatoes has sent prices plummeting. Last season EU spot or free-buy processing potato prices hit €300/tonne and were double that in 2023/24. But now they are scraping along at €15/tonne, although extensive use of contracts will save many from those diabolical prices.

British free-buy price have not plunged so far, but are much lower than last year. Potato Call reports that whites are selling from £100 upwards – a year ago they were at £280/tonne. For more see: Welcome Page – UK POTATOES

There have been low volumes of ware imports and exports in the first few months of the 2025/26 season. Imports of frozen fries may have peaked. They were at 204,000 tonnes in the third quarter of the year, a drop of 5% on the same three months last year.

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Cedric Porter is the editor of weekly global potato briefing World Potato Markets. See www.worldpotatomarkets.com for more.