Main points
- The European potato market is facing overproduction, with a surplus of 3.3 million tons.
- Potato prices have fallen into negative territory due to falling demand and competitive pressure, leading to significant disposal costs.
Potato prices in the EU have fallen into negative territory / Photo by Pexels
The European potato market is facing massive overproduction and falling demand. The surplus is so large that farmers are forced to pay to dispose of it.
What is happening on the EU potato market?
The European Union potato market is in a deep overproduction crisis, GroceryGazette reports. According to analysts, the surplus has already reached about 3.3 million tons.
Over the past two years, farmers in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and France have been aggressively expanding their acreage, counting on high demand and favorable contract prices. This has resulted in record yields, but the market situation has changed dramatically.
Demand for potatoes has declined due to increased competition from Asian producers , the impact of US import tariffs and a weakening US dollar, all of which have led to a significant surplus in the market.
Potato prices have fallen into negative territory
Prices reflect a critical imbalance: according to PotatoNL, the purchase price of feed potatoes has fallen to negative values – minus 0.86-0.87 pounds per 100 kilograms. In such conditions, part of the harvest is directed to animal feed or biogas plants, and the costs of disposal are borne by the producers themselves.
In the Netherlands alone, about 4.2 million tons of food potatoes were harvested in 2025 – 900,000 tons more than the year before. At the same time, 500,000 to 600,000 tons remain unsold.
Please note! A similar situation is observed in other EU countries. In particular, in Belgium, about 800 thousand tons of products have accumulated in warehouses, and in France, the projected surplus reaches approximately 1 million tons .
Experts note that not all farmers can afford long-term storage of their crops, and there are no signs of improvement in the market situation yet. Therefore, producers are forced to cut costs and abandon storage.
According to analysts, to stabilize the situation, it is necessary to review approaches to marketing and contracting, taking into account changes in demand.
Potato prices are falling sharply: why are Ukrainian farmers selling off their stocks en masse?
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Potato prices in Ukraine are falling due to weak demand and increasing supply, and farmers are selling off their stocks due to deteriorating product quality.
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Compared to last year, potatoes are 62% cheaper, and in supermarkets prices range from 10.80 to 22.50 hryvnias per kilogram.