Information for fruit and vegetables business in CIS
Potato production in EU-15 decreased 10.7% in 2005
The potato production in the EU-15 for this year won't exceed 35 mln. tons, with a 10.7% decrease in comparison with 2004, according to the information provided by FreshPlaza. Also the acreage (971.300 hectares) has been reduced with 4%, with an average production of 36 tons per hectare (-6.6%).
The toughest decrease is in Polish potatoes (Poland is the first European producer) where the production has decreased 21.4%. The acreage has been reduced from 713K to 594K hectares (-17%) and the average production has been 18.5 tons per hectare (19.6 TONS in 2004) due to the low temperatures during spring and to the summer drought.
There are decreases in potato production also in Belgium (-16.4%), Germany (-14.5%), France (-9%), Holland (-8%) and United Kingdom (-6%). In Italy, with a production of 1.8 mln. tons, the potatoes decrease is less than 0.7%.
According to the evaluation of the Agricultural Marketing Project potato production decreased 19% in 2005 in Ukraine (from 20.7 mln. tons in 2004 down to 16.7 mln. tons in 2005). The production decrease is caused by -2% of potato acreage and -16% of potato yield. The average yield is about 11.2 tons/ha in Ukraine.