Belgian Potato Prices Drop to Zero Amid Growing Supply Glut

(MENAFN) Industrial potato prices in Belgium have collapsed to €0, exposing a deepening supply crisis that has left growers offloading produce for nothing rather than watch it go to waste, a news agency reported Tuesday.

The sector's freefall was laid bare in the latest price quotation issued by federation Belgapom, which showed that maincrop potatoes — destined for long-term storage and processing into products such as frozen chips — plummeted to €10 per ton (approximately $11) in March before effectively hitting rock bottom. The pricing applies to potatoes traded openly with major chip manufacturers.

A structural imbalance lies at the heart of the crisis. While 70% to 80% of the harvest had been locked in under previously negotiated higher-priced contracts, the remaining volume was left fully exposed to a market where buyer appetite has all but evaporated. Belgapom noted that no price had been established in recent weeks, citing a complete breakdown in trading activity.

Belgapom CEO Christophe Vermeulen captured the desperation gripping the sector: "Farmers have sold their potatoes, but at 0 euros. Anything is better than ploughing them in or destroying them."

Growers are currently sitting on a surplus running into several hundred thousand tons, with processors showing little appetite for additional stock given their already adequate inventories. The situation is further compounded by an ongoing maincrop season that continues to feed fresh supply into an already saturated market.

Attempts to channel the excess toward alternative outlets — including animal feed and biofuel production — have so far proven insufficient to make a meaningful dent in the oversupply.

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