Scotland looks to expand seed potato exports while negotiating for return to EU market

Scottish seed potato exports amounted to over 92,000 tonnes in 2023/24. The largest market is Egypt with 60% of exports, followed by Morocco with 10%. The remainder goes to a further 26 countries with volumes varying from thousands of tonnes to a few hundred, as Nichola McGregor reports in an article published by FreshPlaza.

Moving forward, Scotland is looking to increase exports to a few countries such as Jordan and Brazil. “Scotland exported approximately 700 tonnes to Jordan in the 2023/24 season; we are just finalising the figures for the current season. We recently hosted a delegation from the Jordanian Ministry of Agriculture over to Scotland to show them our procedures and hopefully open the market for expansion,” explains Patrick Hughes from the Scottish Agri Export Hub. “We aim to grow the export to Jordan to 10,000 tonnes in the next five years.

“We are also looking at similar inward missions from Brazil and other emerging export markets in the near future to let them see our procedures and grow our export there too.”

“Before the ban Scotland exported 25,000 tonnes of seed each year to Europe. The last couple of years have been challenging with a dip in profitability for potato growing in general due to high input costs and challenging market conditions, but the outlook has changed this season with lower availability and higher prices leading to optimism within the sector.”

Source: FreshPlaza. Read the full story by Nichola McGregor here
Image: Credit FreshPlaza