Market and consumer data analytics company A-INSIGHTS last week published its latest monthly newsletter on trends in the Frozen Potato Products industry, titled “May Insights“.
Sector analysts at the company say global trade volume down 3.3%YTD compared to 2019, with prices down 3.5%YTD. Driven largely by continually increasing imports by the US, imports by the Americas until May have increased by 203 thousand tonnes (+25.0%) compared to the same period in 2019. European countries continue to struggle with social restrictions, leading to import declines.
Prices remain pressured as volume recovery halts in May
With the global trade volume down 3.3% compared to the same period in pre-COVID 2019, volume recovery halted in May. A 13.0% decline of Dutch exports is only partially offset by increased exports from Canada, whilst Belgian export volumes decreased with a moderate 1.6%. Prices remain below both 2019 and 2020 levels, driven by pressured export prices for al major exporters except for Canada.
Image 1: Total export YTD until May (in th. tonnes & price/kg)
Image 2: May export volume and price per kg by exporting country, compared to 2019 (top 5)
US imports remain above pre-COVID levels in May, no significant recovery in Europe
Aided by the high drive-through penetration and continued re-openings of full-service restaurants, US YTD imports are up 15.9% compared to pre-COVID levels in 2019. Combined with a €0.07 increase in the price/kg, the US import value increases significantly. At the same time, European countries continue to struggle with social restrictions, leading to import declines between 3.5% (Italy) and 38.3% (Netherlands) compared to 2019.
Image 3: May import volume and price per kg by importing country, compared to 2019 (top 10)
Global trade recovery was driven almost completely by imports from the Americas
Looking at a regional level, it becomes apparent that the global recovery of frozen potato trade volumes is almost completely driven by the Americas. Driven largely by continually increasing imports by the US, imports by the Americas until May have increased by 203 thousand tonnes (+25.0%) compared to the same period in 2019. At the same time, European imports continue to be pressured severely by continuing social restrictions and show little recovery compared to 2020.
Image 4:Total export YTD per region until May (in th. tonnes)
Further information
This and similar potato industry reports produced by A-INSIGHTS are available monthly. You can subscribe to receive the company’s newsletters free of charge here: https://annual-insight.nl/#newsletter-signup.
For questions about this report or any other A-INSIGHTS services and reports, feel free to get in touch with Mathieu Geuskens, Senior Analyst at: mathieu.geuskens@a-insights.eu or +31 (0)20 261 1977.
