Netherlands: Avebe Starch Potatoes Reportedly Sold to German and Belgian Processors as Raw Material Tightens
Boerenbusiness reports that Dutch starch cooperative Avebe is selling starch potatoes to fries and granulate plants abroad. Avebe declined to comment. Its 2026 base price is €57 per tonne.
Dutch starch cooperative Avebe is selling part of its starch potatoes to processors in Germany and Belgium, according to trade publication Boerenbusiness. The German and Belgian factories are reported to be turning the starch potatoes into potato granulate, which frees up smaller fries-type potatoes for fries production.
Avebe did not confirm the sales. According to Boerenbusiness, the cooperative said it does not provide information on any trading activities because they are commercially confidential. The report therefore rests on a single source.
Price and stocks
Boerenbusiness reports that Avebe’s base price for starch potatoes this year is €57 per tonne, or €5.70 per 100 kg, including an increase in the full-delivery premium. The publication describes this as half the price of the past two years. According to the report, Avebe expects to earn more from selling the potatoes than from processing them into starch, because it is holding large starch stocks. Income from trading goes back to members through the potato price.
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The same report notes that the trading house Reka-Rheinland raised its quotations by €0.50 for early industrial potatoes and by €1 for the varieties Zorba and Innovator.
Context
North-west Europe’s 2026 harvest has been cut by drought, and fries processors in Belgium and the Netherlands are drawing on stored 2025 potatoes and imports to keep lines running. Diverting starch potatoes into granulate is one way to stretch the supply of fries-grade raw material. The move comes as the starch sector itself faces weak prices; Polish starch maker PEPEES has just reported a parent-company operating loss for the first half of 2026, which it links to low potato-starch prices.
Why it matters
If confirmed, the sale of starch potatoes to foreign processors shows how far the fries chain is reaching for raw material this season. It also signals that the potato starch market is oversupplied enough for the largest cooperative to prefer trading over processing. For Avebe members, the outcome will be visible in the final potato price paid after the campaign.
Photo: Avebe potato starch factory at Gasselternijveen, the Netherlands (illustrative). Gouwenaar / Wikimedia Commons, CC0
