After a good September month, with a stabilization global trade compared to last year, October 2020 proved to be another slow month for the global frozen potato trade according to the information published in the latest Annual Insight Frozen Potato Trade newsletter.
October 2020 volumes were down 13.5% compared to October 2019. Although it must be said that October 2019 was an exceptionally good month as European players benefitted from the availability of newly harvested potatoes. The availability of raw materials has been a struggle in 2019.
Year-to-date (YTD) frozen potato global trade is still down 10% compared to YTD October 2019, despite a relatively strong recovery in the (late) summer months. Contrary to expectations, trade prices are showing stability in the developed markets. In smaller markets, more price-sensitive buying can be witnessed.
European trade is still far below last year’s figures, especially markets with strong lockdown measures at the beginning of the year (United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain). The United States is the only major importing country realizing strong net import growth.
The data shows that Belgium players have entered the United States market with force. Bill of Lading (shipment) data display that the growth of Belgium is, in particular, realized in the retail private label segment.
Another surprise is that Indian frozen potato exports have strongly increased, profiting from Asian markets holding up well and trade tariff benefits.
For the remaining months of 2020, for which data will become available in the coming months, global trade is expected to take another hit as many countries imposed new lockdown restrictions.
These and other insights are available monthly in the Annual Insight Frozen Potato Trade newsletter.
You can subscribe at https://annual-insight.nl/#newsletter-signup. For questions please contact [email protected]
Source: Annual Insight
Photo: Potato Business
