For the 2021-2022 marketing season, Germany has surpassed Belgium as the largest buyer of Dutch seed potatoes. This is evident from the Dutch Potato Organization’s final figures for seed potato exports (NAO).
Germany purchased 112,300 tonnes of Dutch seed potatoes for the 2021 crop. This is 14,000 tons, or 14% more than last year. Seed potato sales in Belgium fell by about 10% to 90,600 tonnes. Algeria is the third largest buyer of seed potatoes this year, with 86,800 tonnes.
This year’s total export volume of Dutch seed potatoes is 736,400 tonnes. This is slightly higher than last year’s exports, but 3.5% lower than seed potato exports from the 2019 harvest. This year’s exports to Asia, primarily to African countries, were disappointing.
In Africa, Algeria (+95 percent) and Egypt (+50 percent) received the most seed potatoes this year. In Asia, countries like Iraq (-32%), Uzbekistan (-46%), and Saudi Arabia (-46%) resulted in significantly lower export volumes.
Dutch seed potato sales in the EU remained nearly unchanged. In the rest of Europe, it’s worth noting that the UK received 4,100 tonnes fewer seeds this year than it did last year, owing to various Brexit issues. In addition, Russia purchased 3,200 tons of seed potatoes of Dutch origin, slightly more than the previous year.
A source: https://www.potatobusiness.com
