The prolonged spell of warm weather this week has dampened home consumption of potatoes. The food service sector should see a welcome boost as school holidays commence next week. Queens are slowly coming onto the market and demand is strong to date. Main season crops are progressing well but, by no means will it be an early harvest as crops were late planted due to weather conditions in the spring.
In the European market, domestic markets are moving on from imported Mediterranean more quickly than usual following weather created quality issues. In Flanders there is a 23% decrease in area to 47,561 ha’s with a reduction of 50% in the early area. This now puts the total reduction in Belgium to 16% and the lowest for five years. In the UK some rainfall was very welcome last week but short-lived following this week’s heatwave.
