| 6 October 2011 | At the entrance into the 2011/2012 harvest year there was no carry-over stocks of European potato starch due to a poor harvest in 2010/2011. Normally, at this time of the year we would have a relatively clear picture of the expected harvest and therefore availability of potato starch for the coming 12 months. In spite of serious drought in the early part of the season the overall growing conditions have been good during the summer period. Nevertheless, there is still a very high degree of uncertainty regarding the actual output as a consequence of very constant rain all over Europe for the last many weeks. Long periods of rain during the harvest period results in inability to harvest the potatoes and in risk of late blight as well, which affects the tubers even into the fall just as excess water in the fields might cause tuber damage leading to risk of significantly reduced actual output. The good news is that the last several days have been relatively dry. Consequently, we can hope that the damages up till now are limited, but only the next few months can give us the real answer. Based on the current outlook and the empty carry-over stocks the current price levels are expected to continue into 2012. For flakes and granules, the situation is more critical in the sense that the vast amount of rain all over Europe has dramatically reduced the volume of high quality potatoes with storage potential. Consequently, it is expected that there will be very low availability of the required high quality potatoes for production in the period April-June 2012. The result is expected to be an upward pressure on flakes and granules sales prices in Q1-Q2 2012. |
|
|
 |
 |
| [Back] |
