The EU potato sector in 2022 & 2023

European production in 2023

In 2023, the harvested production of potatoes in the EU was 48.3 million tonnes. Germany was the largest producer of potatoes in the EU (at 11.6 million tonnes, 24.0 % of the EU total), ahead of France (17.9 %) and the Netherlands (13.4 %). These three EU countries together accounted for a majority (55.4 %) of the harvested production of potatoes in the EU in 2023.

The majority of the EU’s harvested area of potatoes located in Germany (19.9 % of the EU total), France (15.4 %), Poland (an estimated 14.2 %), the Netherlands (11.7 %), and Belgium (7.1 %) together accounted for just over two-thirds of the EU’s 1.3 million hectares of harvested potatoes in 2023.

EU Potato Trade in 2023

Intra-EU Trade:

• The EU traded approximately 9 million tonnes of potatoes internally in 2023, valued at €3 billion.
• Main crop potatoes accounted for 75.1% of intra-EU exports by value, followed by seed potatoes (14.2%), early potatoes (8.0%), and starch potatoes (2.7%).
• France, the Netherlands, and Germany were the leading exporters within the EU.

Exports to Third Countries:

• The EU exported 1.1 million tonnes of potatoes valued at €663.6 million to non-EU countries.
• Seed potatoes (59.1 % in terms of the total value and 47.9 % in terms of volume) and main crop potatoes (35.6 % in value and 46.1 % in volume) comprised the majority of exports.
• Algeria, Egypt, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Senegal, and Morocco were the primary export markets.
• The Netherlands was the leading exporter, accounting for over half of all extra-EU potato exports by value (60.5 %) and volume (57.6 %).

Imports:

• The EU imported relatively few potatoes from non-EU countries, valued at €356.3 million.
• Early potatoes made up the majority of imports, with Egypt being the primary supplier.

Overall, the EU potato market is characterized by significant intra-EU trade and a smaller volume of imports from non-EU countries.

Source: Eurostat

Global potato statistics (2022)

FAO has updated its data related to global potato statistics which is available via its FAOSTAT database. The latest data includes statistics for 2022 and it covers “total production” (metric tonnes) and “total area harvested” (hectares), and present the results for 140 potato producing countries.

World potato production: