Processed potatoes (mainly frozen chips and crisps) were worth EUR10b or 1.2% of the overall value of EU food and beverage industry output in 2014, while processing is concentrated in five countries, according to Eurostat.
With shares of 44.0% and 38.8%, frozen chips and crisps were the most important products in terms of value of production.
Potatoes are processed into four main types of product:
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– frozen potatoes,
– dried potatoes,
– prepared or preserved potatoes,
– potato starch.
The EU was a net exporter of processed potatoes, with imports representing a mere 1.9% of the value of its own output. On average, the value of exports represented 12.6% of the value of production, although this includes figures of 39.9% in the case of potato starch and 30.8% for dried potatoes (flour, meal flakes, granules and pellets).
Potato processing took place mainly in five countries:
– the Netherlands,
– Belgium,
– the United Kingdom,
– France and
– Germany.
Italy was the leading country for frozen potatoes (uncooked or cooked by steaming or in boiling water), with a share of 63 % in value terms.
For reasons of data confidentiality, it is not possible to produce a single ranking, but a degree of specialization could be observed across countries: Germany was most active in producing dried potatoes (65.9% in value); the Netherlands (43.6 %) and Belgium (21.4 %) were the leading producers of frozen chips, while the United Kingdom registered the largest value share of crisp production (20.9%) followed by Germany (18.3%).
