No-nonsense, no-frills news stories from around the world
Australia’s potato industry has welcomed to two key commitments realised under the Thailand-Australia Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA), which are set to improve access to the Thai market. Thailand has now implemented zero tariffs and removed tariff rate quotas that limited the volume of Australian seed and processing potatoes that could access the lower TAFTA tariff.
Gordon MP Richard Thomson has warned DEFRA Farming Minister Victoria Prentis that the “clock is ticking” for Scottish seed potato exports as the Irish Government put in place a €3million investment scheme in their domestic potato growers in a bid to capitalise on the ban on imports of Scottish seed potatoes. Irish Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue said this presents a timely opportunity for the Irish seed potato sector to develop capacity and expand
Farmers have rejected a second price offer made by food manufacturer Simplot for their potato crop this season. They say the extra $105 a tonne the company has put forward is still not enough to cover the cost of growing their crop this season, which is around $20,000 a hectare. As Laurissa Smith and Fiona Breen report for ABC Rural, Sassafras farmer and contractor Scott Rockliff said inputs including fuel and fertiliser were spiralling. Farmers said they were thinking about other options, whether it be more sheep or cattle or other crops.
U.S. farmers started shipping fresh potatoes into the Mexican interior in May, about 20 years after an initial deal was signed between the two countries. But farmers aren’t sure the deal will last, according to Jim Ehrlich, the executive director of the Colorado Potato Administrative Committee in Monte Vista. “We’re really skeptical that Mexico will not find a reason to shut the market down again,” he said.
A 4kg bag of humble potatoes is set to join iceberg lettuce in the $12 club at Australian supermarkets in coming weeks as farmers warn of a potential 30 per cent price rise. And with a price hike in potatoes comes a jump in the price of Australian’s beloved hot chips, with rises expected at restaurants, fish and chip shops, fast-food chains and pubs.
Retail markets in Ireland remain static as school holidays are in full swing; demand for the processing sector is buoyant, according to this week’s market report by the Irish Farmers Association (IFA). The area of earlies planted is slightly less than 2021 area. Across Europe, processing activity continues to be very strong but buyers are now much more relaxed.
Commodities markets are in uproar, wheat prices have reached record highs and the cost of food is rocketing. “Yet the humble spud – a staple grown on our doorstep – is still cheap and plentiful,” writes Sarah Chambers in a news story for East Anglian Daily Times. This year’s East Anglian potato crop is looking very promising. But prices are low – making some of the farmers’ crops uneconomical.
Calbee Inc., Japan’s answer to Frito-Lay with an enormous product line-up ranging from pizza-flavored potato chips to low-carb granola, is raising prices again as companies struggle to absorb costs that are climbing at the fastest clip in years. As Lily Nonomiya reports for Bloomberg News, the Tokyo-based company said in a statement Wednesday it will raise the prices of snacks and cereals in Japan by 5% to 20% from September.
The ongoing post-Brexit ban on selling seed potatoes to the valuable European market continues to anger and frustrate Scottish growers according to NFU Scotland. As William Kellett reports for Agiland, the union is calling for urgent action from the EU Commission and the UK government to agree a new model for two-way trade in seed potatoes between GB, the EU and Northern Ireland.
The future of exports of Mallorcan potatoes to the United Kingdom is in doubt thanks to Brexit and the long queues truckers have to endure at British ports, according to a report by Humphrey Carter for the Majorca Daily Bulletin. The current potato export season has been described as “better than expected” by growers in Sa Pobla, but “future seasons are in serious danger”, according to the manager of Mateu Export, the municipality’s main exporter.
The day potato farmers in San Luis Valley had been waiting on for more than 25 years finally came as Mexico’s decades long limitation on Colorado-grown potatoes came to an end earlier this month, reports Marianne Goodland for The Gazette. But the degree to which the new agreement benefits the San Luis Valley remains a big question mark, in large part because of drought.
The Irish Farmers Association (IFA) says in its weekly potato update that digging of early Home Guard and Premier varieties have commenced in the south east this week, with small quantities available in retailers. It is still very dry over much of Northern Europe and there are concerns about development of the early crop.
With many countries around the globe relaxing restrictions and showing signs of recovery from the pandemic, demand for U.S. potato exports is strong in many markets. Potatoes USA says in a news release that during the first three quarters of the marketing year (July 2021-March 2022), overall U.S. potato and potato product exports increased from the same period one year earlier.
A third of fish and chip shops in Britain could be at risk of closure due to food shortages caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, industry leaders have warned. The National Federation of Fish Friers (NFFF) has called on the Government to “act now” to prevent “long-term damage” to the popular takeaways, Sky News reports.
The provincial government of Prince Edward Island (PEI) is announcing new funding for a project to support seed potato producers in adapting to ongoing trade suspensions by planting soil-building crops. The “Soil Building for Seed Producers Project” is a $3 million provincial investment into Prince Edward Island’s seed sector.
In this “Keeping it Current” video episode produced and published by Potatoes USA, the industry body’s Chief Marketing Officer, John Toaspern discusses the impact of gaining fresh potato access to all of Mexico, the years of effort that went into this, and the continued work that needs be done to keep the market open.
The National Potato Council today welcomed the news that the first shipments of U.S. fresh potatoes crossed into Mexico yesterday, May 11. The successful crossings signal the start of Mexico’s process to restore full market access for U.S. fresh potatoes after decades of disputes and legal obstructions.
The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and Mexico’s national plant protection organization (SENASICA) announce that the United States has begun exporting potatoes beyond the 26-kilometer border zone that previously marked the limit of their export. The U.S. potato industry estimates that this access for U.S. fresh potatoes to all of Mexico will provide a market potential of $250 million per year, in five years.
After potato wart was detected in two Prince Edward Island fields last fall, Canada quickly shut down most shipments of the province’s potatoes to the U.S., in order to dissuade the Americans from imposing their own ban. Farmers on the Island are anxious. Fears that exports could be shut down a second time this year are causing many growers to cut back production and shift to other crops.
The Mintec Benchmark Prices of processing potatoes in Belgium rose by 11% in the two weeks up to 20th April 2022, and up 264% year-on-year (y-o-y), according to a report by Alice Witchalls for Mintec. This is largely attributed to rising costs of inputs combined with firm demand for processing potatoes.
Double-digit cost inflation is hitting every single enterprise of British agriculture, casting doubt on the sector’s ability to maintain food supplies in the year ahead. Latest figures from the AF buying group shows that no farming enterprise has been able to avoid the impact of soaring costs, with cereals and oilseed producers seeing the greatest increases at 28%, followed by potatoes, dairy, and beef and lamb producers – all hit by inflation of more than 20%.
February 24, 2022 was a turning point for both Ukraine and the rest of the world, since the Russian invasion of Ukraine has undoubtedly turned the normal world order on its head. In this exclusive article, Fruit-Inform market analyst, Yevhen Kuzin, provides our readers with a bird’s eye view of the current and expected future situation of the potato industry in Ukraine – an industry seriously impacted by Russia’s war against the country.
McDonald’s Korea and Lotteria are suffering from frozen potato shortages, scrambling to replace their French fries with chicken nuggets or cheese sticks due to supply chain problems amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Lotte GRS, operator of Lotteria, reportedly said it is seeking other global potato suppliers instead of the U.S., where the fast food franchise imports most of its frozen potatoes from.
Supplies of potato chips and various confectionaries are now under threat as a result of disrupted export of key ingredients caused by sanctions and the Ukraine War. As Peter Caddle reports for Breitbart, Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine has led to significant disruptions in global supply chains, with the West losing access either partially or fully to some essential goods and resources from the two nations.
Potatoes from the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island are once again rolling down the highway to the United States, with the first truckloads arriving in the Boston area Tuesday morning. As Nancy Russell reports for CBC News, exporters began loading their trucks on Monday, three days after the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the potatoes would be permitted south of the border and four months after the ban was first imposed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).
Rabobank’s RaboResearch – Food & Agribusiness team released this research report recently. They say that higher fertilizer prices and/or a shortage of fertilizer supply resulting from the war in Ukraine will not have an immediate impact on food prices and/or food production. The first crop-growing regions to be ‘at risk’ are India and Latin America. India is partially out of danger, but Latin America is highly exposed.
