This year’s constant rainfall and generally poor weather reported in Switzerland, translated into the country’s disappointing potato harvest, and conjugated with a 30% increase in demand due to people sitting at home eating chips rather than going to restaurants due to COVID-19, they all generated a chip shortage.
According to the Swiss chips manufacturers, the shortage of locally grown potatoes led to an import need of at least 20,000 tons.
Based on an article published by The Local, the chip companies’ representatives mentioned that it is at this stage impossible to determine just how serious the potato shortage will get, with the impact hitting the shelves in December.
The country’s complex import rules which seek to protect local farmers made the foreign acquisition process from Portugal, Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands a little more difficult, with special permission required from the Federal Office for Agriculture.
Over the long term, Switzerland processors imported a maximum of 5% of their potato need from abroad. This year, according to officials from the Zweifel potato chips manufacturer, the local crisps producers were able to source around 90% of potatoes from Switzerland, ‘but the import quota is likely to increase.’
