While 2016 was a boom year for fry exports, there are some clouds gathering on the horizon for 2017. US fry exports have been very disappointing so far and hopes of a one million tonne 12-month US export total are fading or at least being postponed. For the EU, product prices are rising and the industry urgently needs the better harvest this year which we and now the NEPG have been forecasting.
The figures in the charts are based on monthly average currency values. Because of the strength of the dollar, US exporters have been keeping a tight rein on their prices but even here there was a jump in February, to US$ 1 144/tonne (€1 075/tonne). EU statistics are subject to delays but the EU-28 figure of €761/tonne for January was equivalent to US$ 808/tonne, a jump from US$ 769/tonne in December.
Canada’s prices have been steady in terms of US dollars and have recently declined in euros, but the currency depreciated in March and this will increase the euro and dollar equivalents of Canadian dollar prices. (There is a fault in the Canadian statistics for July 2015: exports to Kuwait are put at 25 980 tonnes for a return of Ca$ 89 513.)
Reproduced with permission from World Potato Markets Issue 312 – 11 April 2017