Belgium: Potato harvests are exceptional… but the price is not falling in stores: how can this be explained?

Their price has never remained so low for so long: 15 euros per ton on the open market for industrial potatoes and 75 euros on that of fresh potatoes sold whole.

The prices are very low, but on the shelves, consumers don’t see the difference. "We don’t buy them frequently, but still, I don’t see that the price is going down. The fries aren’t going down, they’re going up but they never go down. And the potatoes too," says one customer.

But why €3.99 for 2 kilos of potatoes when they’re bought from the farmer for just a few cents? Charles de Wulf has been supplying a major supermarket chain for over 5 years. "It’s true that we hear a lot about extremely low potato prices right now. But that only applies to a small portion of the total potato production. Because in Belgium, the vast majority of potato production is under contract," this farmer points out.

These contracts cover approximately 80% of the potatoes produced in Belgium. They guarantee farmers a fixed price of around 350 euros per ton, regardless of supply and demand: the retail price therefore remains stable. "I think it’s absolutely essential that a certain price level be maintained on supermarket shelves. Because that’s what ensures that the contractual relationships between the various links in the supply chain can be respected," the farmer believes.

In concrete terms, this sector comprises four actors: when you buy a bag of potatoes, approximately 20% goes to the farmer, 10% to taxes, and the remainder, roughly 70%, goes to the distributor, but also to the potato processor. Their role is crucial and therefore costly. "These processors receive, sort, wash, package, and distribute the potatoes to the distribution centers of large supermarkets," explains Pierre Lebrun, coordinator of the Walloon potato sector.

To reduce the selling price, some farmers choose to limit intermediaries and sell more locally.