Spain (Canary Islands): Local white potatoes unsold in summer with the threat of imported potatoes

Sales of domestic potatoes are not sufficiently active during the period when this is most needed, with the greatest domestic supply. This, coupled with the low or very low price paid to farmers (sometimes even lower than the average cost of production), is slowing down, perhaps even more than necessary, the commercial release of local tubers corresponding to the most abundant harvest of the year : the early and mid-season potato crop. These are the ones dug between spring and summer.

Currently, as Canarian producers themselves have acknowledged and the Canary Islands Government’s Department of Agriculture is aware, millions of kilos of the country’s potatoes remain in storage, some stockpiled in cool but not refrigerated areas and others in cold storage.

The current situation is not favorable for the sale of local potatoes , despite the unique supply, as there isn’t much time left until the expected arrival of imported potatoes from the United Kingdom, a latent threat that, as usual year after year, unnerves all island farmers. If the current situation is difficult, it could worsen considerably if imports are increased: there will be competition, and almost certainly, it will also be on price.

From 1.20 euros per kilo to levels between 0.60 and 0.70

For all these reasons, local growers are asking for and hoping that the arrival of potatoes from abroad will be delayed long enough to allow the sale of their own harvest to take place in optimal conditions. This is ideal, but it doesn’t always happen that way, and this time, it’s still unknown what will happen in the end. Hence the widespread nervousness.

Some traditional producers in the northern midlands of Tenerife, where dryland white potato cultivation is concentrated throughout the Canary Islands (La Orotava Valley, San Juan de la Rambla, La Guancha, etc.), at least in the early and mid-season phase (the latter being the main harvest in summer), acknowledge that there are still many potatoes harvested and stored with no sale in sight , and they add that the wholesale prices paid for their produce are not good at all: they have fallen from €1.20 per kilo to between €0.60 and €0.70.

These prices, they assert, are unacceptable because they involve wholesale transaction values, from the local producer to the wholesaler, which do not always guarantee coverage of average agricultural costs. Therefore, obtaining profits (at the level of one euro per kilo or slightly more) is impossible through the market, that is, at least before the payment of POSEI program aid, up to two activated modalities (by cultivated area and by kilos sold).

Dismay at unclear sales expectations

The same sources fear that if stored potatoes from local sources are not quickly released, it will soon be necessary to activate the import of tubers from the United Kingdom, making it more difficult or impossible to export the country’s available production at the most acceptable prices, which would undoubtedly cause significant losses to local producers once again.

These same farmers expect British potato imports to begin starting in September, rather than mid-September. This is what is expected.

Given this outlook and with demand currently very weak, which typically occurs in August, and even more so in the second half, it is unlikely that all of the country’s potato stocks can be brought to market before September, which is very bad news if they soon have to compete with imported potatoes.

For now, the most advantageous or least damaging solution for the interests of Canary Island farmers with early and mid-season potatoes in storage is far from clear, and so confusion is once again rife.