The European potato market is under pressure due to a “significant surplus”, according to a new report.
DCA Market Intelligence said the situation is forcing some growers “to pay for the disposal of their product”.
The Dutch price reporting agency said the large supplies have led to a lack of market outlets and low prices.
“Even giving potatoes away for free has proven insufficient to reduce inventories,” the report noted.
Potatoes
Farmers in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and France have significantly expanded potato production over the past two years.
This expansion was driven by strong demand and favorable contract prices from the processing industry.
Favorable growing conditions in 2025 resulted in high yields and in turn a large harvest.
However, DCA said that demand for potatoes has “clearly weakened”.
“Increasing competition from Asia, import tariffs in the United States, and a weaker dollar have put pressure on the export position of European producers. This has led to a structural surplus,” the report said.
Prices
PotatoNL recently recorded prices below zero for potatoes for animal feed, while prices for French Fry potatoes are just slightly higher.
DCA said volumes are increasingly being redirected to animal feed and bio-digestion, with disposal costs more frequently falling on growers, partly as a result of rising transport costs.
The report added that without prospects for price recovery, growers are choosing to limit storage costs and bring their product to market earlier.
“Not everyone can store their potatoes for that long,” Niels van der Boom, potato market specialist at DCA Market Intelligence, said.
“Moreover, there is currently no outlook for market improvement. As a result, growers are deciding to stop incurring cooling costs,” he added.
Surplus
In 2025, the Netherlands harvested approximately 4.2 million tonnes of ware potatoes, 900,000t more than the previous year.
DCA said that some of these potatoes have been diverted to feed, digestion, or starch processing, but an estimated 500,000 to 600,000t still remain.
In Belgium, around 800,000t remain in storage without buyers, the French surplus is estimated at 1 million tonnes, while in Germany a comparable volume is expected.
Based on DCA Market Intelligence estimates, the total surplus in the four EU countries amounts to approximately 3.3 million tonnes.
In response, Belgium has launched promotional campaigns to market potatoes as food, feed, or as a feedstock for biogas.
In France, a protocol is being worked on for controlled destruction to mitigate health risks. While the issue has been discussed in the Netherlands, concrete measures are awaited.
“Given the scale of the surplus, broader initiatives are needed to create sufficient capacity for the upcoming harvest in time.
“The current situation underscores the need for market participants to realign production, contracting, and marketing strategies with a structurally changed market dynamic,” the report said.
