No more cheap potatoes?

SpudMan

Hello all, first post for me.

After reading geordie joe's laughable post I felt compelled to register and bring some truth to this topic.

It's correct that many potatoes are imported in to the UK every year from countries such as France, Israel, Egypt and Morocco.

But to say that rising prices in the supermarkets has nothing to do with this years poor harvest is quite frankly ridiculous. The UK produces around 6 million tons of potatoes per annum and supplements this with around 1 million tons of foreign imports.

The 2012 UK potato crop produced closer to 4 million tons. This was caused by several factors. 2011 saw a severe drought with soil moisture deficits (SMD) reaching over 80mm. Quite simply this meant that on average arable land across the UK was very very dry and needed around 10 inches of rain to return it to the correct SMD.Along with the irrigation reservoirs were mostly below 30% full.

So the 2013 crop was planted in desert like conditions into soil that was too dry and had little chance of being restored to a suitable SMD via over ground irrigation.

Then the rain began!!!! Some area's of the UK saw upwards of 30 inches of rain over the potato growing season. Land which was previously so dry cannot suddenly accomodate so much water. It is thought that as much as 30% of the UK crop was lost due to land flooding. (a large percentage of this land was re planted at the farmers expense)

So now we've got land with water lying on it, with nowhere to go and rising temperatures as we approach the summer. The plants have now begun to grow creating their own micro climate beneath the canopy. This now means that on any day above say 20 degrees we've got what is known as a "Full Smith Period". This means the plants are likely to contract leaf blight. In simple terms leaf blight damages the plant and leaves to a degree that photo synthesis is restricted. Lack of photo synthesis means that nutrients from the plant are not passed down to the tubers below and therefor either less tubers are born, or the ones that are there do not grow as they usually would. With such intense pressure from these Smith Period's farmers have no choice but to increase there blight supressant programme. (spray the field with blight spray) Blight sprays were being applied on all potato crops every 2-3 days for over 2 months. I won't bore you with figures but the cost of this is astronomical.

So now the farmers have harvested their spuds and are looking to recoup some of the cost they have faced over the season. In 2011 the average price of a ton of potatoes at time of harvest was £100 per ton. In 2012 that figure was £350. Meaning that merchants and packers are having to pay large sums of money to by enough crop to fulfil orders from the supermarkets. This cost (slowly) gets passed on to the supermarket so inevitably they increase the price in the shop.

The position I work in provides me with enough information to be able to tell you that yes, potato prices in store will return to where they were before once the market price allows for this. (2014 I'm afraid)

You will continue to see imported potatoes for years to come. This has nothing to do with them being cheaper for the supermarkets, in fact they cost considerably more what with haulage and import duty to be paid on them. It is purely down to the fact that certain lines cannot be in store 12 months a year from the UK crop. Salad potatoes for example. They grow between March and June, are harvested and in store immediately. By the time March comes they have deteriorated in store to a level that you simply wouldn't want to buy the,. So imports have to cover the gap until the UK crop is ready again.

I hope some of you find this useful. If anyone would like to know anything else to do with potatoes, or any other crop then I'll be more than happy to help with factual answers rather then the ones I read above.

Thanks, SpudMan

miacat

Ok spudman, thanks..i won't "tut"..next time im buying a bag of spuds..

thistledome

SpudMan wrote: »

I hope some of you find this useful. If anyone would like to know anything else to do with potatoes, or any other crop then I'll be more than happy to help with factual answers rather then the ones I read above.

Thanks, SpudMan

Thanks, very interesting.

Can I ask a question? For a while now we've found many so-called baking potatoes to be disappointingly watery in texture.

The only ones that are reliably good are Cultra, but we can only find them occasionally and only at the Co-op.

Why aren't they more widely available?

suki1964

thistledome wrote: »

Thanks, very interesting.

Can I ask a question? For a while now we've found many so-called baking potatoes to be disappointingly watery in texture.

The only ones that are reliably good are Cultra, but we can only find them occasionally and only at the Co-op.

Why aren't they more widely available?

They are irish so I'm sure the bad weather has hit them as well

geordie_joe

SpudMan wrote: »

After reading geordie joe's laughable post I felt compelled to register and bring some truth to this topic.

Ok, point out the bits that made you laugh!

SpudMan wrote: »

It's correct that many potatoes are imported in to the UK every year from countries such as France, Israel, Egypt and Morocco.

I already knew that.

SpudMan wrote: »

But to say that rising prices in the supermarkets has nothing to do with this years poor harvest is quite frankly ridiculous.

I didn't say that, can you not read?

What I said was there is only a shortage of english spuds.

SpudMan wrote: »

The UK produces around 6 million tons of potatoes per annum and supplements this with around 1 million tons of foreign imports.

Maybe you are right, but that is not reflected in the supermarkets. You can walk into any supermarket on any day and there is no way 6 out 7 spuds are grown in the UK.

Maybe the UK does produce 6 million tons of spuds, but what percentage of them are sold as spuds in the supermarkets, and what percentage of them go into tins, get frozen, go into ready meals, get made into crisps, get made into smash, get bought by eating establishments such as cafes and chip shops?

SpudMan wrote: »

I'll be more than happy to help with factual answers rather then the ones I read above.

OK, I want facts. What percentage of potatoes grown in the UK are sold as potatoes in supermarkets and what percentage is processed before being sold.

And the same question for imported potatoes.

And to get back to my original post, why has the bad weather in this coutry caused the price of imported potatoes to go up at the same rate as UK potatoes? Because that is what I was pointing out in my post, the wet weather in this country has only effected the potatoes grown in this country, not those grown in other countries.

Edwardia

Spudman thank you for the most informative food post I've ever seen on MSE, really appreciate that. :T

SpudMan

Quite simply the supermarkets suppliers usually make considerably less profit on imported potatoes.

They are sold at a price in store only marginally above cost. UK potatoes are sold at a large mark up. Go back to my earlier post of potatoes off the field last season averaging £100/ton, they were still £800-1000/ton in the shops.

So to cut a long story short they make enough profit from UK stocks to not charge you extra for imports. This year that isn't the case.

I'll answer all other questions tomorrow when I've got time to do it properly.

alandbailey

Living in Somerset, I tend to buy bagged unwashed spuds at the farm gate - much cheaper than the supermarket and will keep longer.:j

TravellingAbuela

[QUOTE=thistledome;
Can I ask a question? For a while now we've found many so-called baking potatoes to be disappointingly watery in texture.

The only ones that are reliably good are Cultra, but we can only find them occasionally and only at the Co-op.
[/QUOTE]

Try Sainsbury's TTD Vivaldi baking potatoes - they make a lovely jacket spud - but, of course, like all potatoes at the moment they don't come cheap!

A._Badger

Thank you for that excellent, informed and informative post, SpudMan. Living in potato growing country, I know you are right.

The only question that remains in my mind is future pricing. I do not trust the supermarkets and suspect they will use this year's price rise to conceal a long term price rise in future years.

They have done it before and they will do it again, I'm afraid.