The weather once again plays a big role in sweet potato growing and harvesting in different countries around the world. Dry weather in many parts of Europe has caused a one month delay to the start of Italy's 2024 sweet potato harvest season. It is expected to only start from the middle or even later this month (October). In Germany, Egypt dominates the market with an early and large supply of sweet potatoes being sent since July. This caused prices to drop below the multi-year average. Spain has seen the planted area of sweet potatoes reduce by 60% over the past two years. The harvest season started later due to the drought at planting time. The reduction in plantings is compounded by a drop in sales volumes, high input costs and lack of labour. Spanish trade also blame the rapid increase of cheaper Egyptian imports, as they are unable to compete. Israel's sweet potato harvest is going well despite the ongoing war. The sweet potato harvest in Israel is described as good quality by the country's industry body. France is seeing lower priced sweet potatoes from Spain and Egypt, which does not benefit French products.
In South Africa cold damage during winter has lead to the low availability of sweet potatoes. As a result higher market prices are seen. South Africa exports sweet potatoes from March/April to the UK, Europe and the Middle East. The "surge" in Egyptian sweet potato production does not directly affect South African trade. Seemingly the only country that is not affected by adverse weather is Egypt, where the planted area has been increased by 30%. The message from Egypt is that markets in Europe should not worry as they will increase export volumes this season. Their season will be extended too until May 2025. The North American sweet potato crops await weather verdicts too. The sweet potato harvest has begun in North Carolina, with a dry growing period, but conditions have become wetter since the last week of July. Last week's Hurricane Helene also hit the western part of the state and the effects on the overall state crop are still to be determined. Australia only has a small number of sweet potato exports, with mainly domestic market consumption.
Italy: Sweet potato harvest up to one month late
Sweet potato production in Italy is concentrated in a few regions, one of which is Veneto. One of the main sweet potato traders in northern Italy says that the harvest is 20-30 days late due to the weather and will therefore take place in mid to late October. It is therefore not possible to give real-time market data. However, the trend is for this product to grow strongly in Italy. In the absence of domestic production, traders rely on foreign production, for example from Egypt. The trader says he had Italian product on sale until April and the average wholesale price was around €1.60/kg, bulk. Foreign produce is usually a little cheaper.
In Calabria, the high temperatures have favoured a more regular development of sweet potatoes, with a better quality yield, also in terms of size. The product looks very good and marketing started in the second half of September. The aim is to increase the promotion of sweet potatoes of Italian origin. At wholesale level, in the Verona area, local sweet potatoes are currently being sold at a prevailing price of €1.40.
Germany: Tough start to Egyptian sweet potatoes
The marketing season for Egyptian sweet potatoes got off to a bumpy start this year. 'Normally, a lot of money is made in the first phase of the season. But this year has been completely different: there have been large surpluses in exports since the beginning of the season in early July, which is clearly due to many new exporters entering the market. As a result, prices have so far been well below the multi-year average. We started the season with package prices of around 4.50 euros and are currently between 5.00 and 5.50 euros, still 0.50 to 1.50 euros below the average. Due to the loss of many smaller exporters, volumes are now falling noticeably, which is having a positive effect on the market. We now hope that the price will stabilise at 5.50 euros,' summarises an importer based in Hamburg.
Spain: Planted area reduced by 60% in two years, harvest season starting late
The area devoted to sweet potato cultivation in Spain continues to fall sharply due to a lack of profitability; a result of high costs and Egypt's dominance in European markets in recent years. This loss of competitiveness of the sweet potato sector in Spain has resulted in the closure of one of the biggest Spanish main producers of sweet potato plants.
Precisely, in the last two years alone, the area planted with sweet potatoes in Spain has been reduced by around 60%. "The sweet potato sector is in a dramatic situation, both because of the shortage of water and personnel (given that it is a labor-intensive crop) and because of the drop in sales volumes and the lower profitability in the face of rising costs. Egypt has gained a lot of ground in record time, with exports out of control and prices that are impossible to compete with," says the owner of the sweet potato plant nursery. "Many growers are giving up on sweet potatoes" he says.
Egyptian sweet potatoes enjoy a dominant position in the market at the moment, now that the production has reached its peak. In Spain, the first sweet potatoes were harvested in August, although now is when volumes are becoming truly significant, as the season has been delayed due to a severe drought at the time of planting.
Until this past spring, it has been a very dry year, so many growers, faced with the uncertainty of whether they'd be able to irrigate their fields or not, decided not to plant; however, at the end of April, there was some rain in southern Spain, which allowed a recovery of water levels in the reservoirs and for water to be allocated for irrigation, which once again boosted the demand for plants. Therefore, the Spanish sweet potato harvest is coming late this year, as there weren't any significant volumes until early September, and the peak in the production is expected to be reached from October onwards.
Netherlands: Growers start and cease sweet potato cultivation
In recent years, several cultivation projects for sweet potatoes have been initiated in the Netherlands. "Quite a few growers have tried it for a year, but many have also ceased their production. Currently, we have a group of about fifteen growers who are taking the cultivation seriously," says a Dutch grower.
Meanwhile, the sweet potato harvest in North America is also in full swing. "After a warm spring and some intermittent rain during the summer, the harvest looks promising so far. For now, the focus of distribution is entirely on Thanksgiving," says a Dutch vendor.
He reflects on a successful season in terms of size sorting, quality, and price. "Pricing was favorable for a long period until Egypt entered the market with significant force. One might question the necessity of this move. In any case, it has significantly driven down the price of American sweet potatoes. In America, higher prices were expected because the market remained relatively stable there."
Belgium: increasing interest in sweet potato cultivation
"With the changing weather conditions in northern Europe, it is becoming increasingly promising to grow good sweet potatoes in, for example, Belgium", explains a trader. "You can also see that more and more growers are starting to try it, although for the time being most of them can't produce really big yields. Still, you can see that this summer too was pretty good for the new crop of sweet potatoes. Overall, for the domestic market, we are still satisfied with the yield. You also see that it is eagerly sold, because it is a product that is rising in popularity. Ultimately, the goal is to be able to supply Belgian sweet potatoes year round, but with the high storage costs that is not yet a given. On the international market, however, we do not play a significant role. There you see that the United States in particular sets the price, which we have to follow."
France: Lower prices from Spain and Egypt of no benefit to French products
On the French market, sweet potatoes come from France (the first volumes), Egypt and Spain. Egyptian volumes are currently in decline, with the main volumes coming from Spain. The market is dynamic and demand is there, but unsurprisingly the lower prices of Spanish and Egyptian sweet potatoes do not benefit French products.
Israel: Sweet potato harvest going well despite war
The sweet potato harvest in Israel is described as good by the country's industry body. Harvesting is well underway with good quality reported. A lot of the plantings have been shifted to central Israel where Thai workers are helping with the harvesting. Most volumes are for the local market, but surrounding countries are able to get supply from Israel via Palestinians in the West Bank. In the south of Israel, that has been affected by the ongoing war, which traditionally have had the majority of sweet potato plantings, harvesting is underway but with decreased levels compared to previous years. The local demand is increasing with the growers focused on meeting this demand, Israel's sweet potatoes industry body noted.
South Africa: Cold damage leads to low availability of sweet potatoes
Cold damage on sweet potatoes is among the reasons for low availability at the moment, and the market price of between R7 (0.37 euro) and R10 (0.5 euro) per kilogram is expected to remain so throughout October.
"It's been a long while since we saw ample volumes of high quality sweet potatoes on the market," opines a vegetable trader in Gauteng, citing the July cold that also caused significant damage to Limpopo potatoes. He says sweet potato prices were even higher a month ago but this is," he adds, "traditionally a slow time of year for sweet potatoes and by mid-summer volumes will increase."
South Africa exports sweet potatoes from March/April to the UK, Europe and the Middle East. What he calls a "surge" in Egyptian sweet potato production does not directly affect South African trade, says an exporter, but when added to Spanish production, the United States' crop gets pushed back and that affects the South African sweet potato export window.
Some South African sweet potato growers diversify their portfolio with unusual varieties like purple-fleshed sweet potatoes; orange-fleshed sweet potatoes are the "bread and butter" of exports, while local consumers are partial to white-fleshed sweet potatoes.
Egypt: Increased volumes, season to be extended until May 2025
"The sweet potato season continues in Egypt. The campaign normally ends in March, but could progress until May this season. Volumes from Egypt are much higher compared to last season, resulting in lower prices.
Egypt has become Europe's leading supplier of sweet potatoes. Last season (2023/2024), Egyptian exports to Europe rose by 45% to 109 thousand tonnes. The leading destination for Egyptian sweet potatoes is the Netherlands, with 60% of volumes, or 65 thousand tonnes, followed by France and Italy.
This season, the volume is even higher. One grower says: "This year, the estimated increase in total sweet potato area is around 30% in Egypt. This means we can guarantee a continuous supply and the best quality sweet potatoes. We started the small-scale Egyptian harvest in July, but the volume will increase over the following weeks. From September 2024 to March 2025, we'll see good volumes again. We should also extend the season a little longer, perhaps until May 2025."
North America: sweet potato crops await weather verdicts
Sweet potato harvest has begun in North Carolina. The growing period was dry to start with, but conditions have gotten wetter since the last week of July. Last week's Hurricane Helene also hit the western part of the state and the effects on the overall state crop are still to be determined. It's also too early to tell what the overall yield will be, though some reports indicate that there will be about a 20 percent loss in North Carolina.
In Mississippi, some growers report that while there have been dry conditions this summer, moisture was welcome though there were concerns about potential heavy rains related to Hurricane Francine impacting the crop.
In Louisiana, harvest is also underway after the season saw a delayed planting in the spring thanks to excess rains. Meanwhile California is welcoming a promising 2024 sweet potato crop, which has benefitted from favourable growing conditions despite challenges posed by extreme summer heat.
As for sweet potato demand, it's good though pressure on pricing is being felt from other growing countries such as Egypt, Spain, France and the Netherlands
Australia: Small number exported, growing mainly for local consumption
There has been a drop in the total volumes of sweet potatoes produced over the last few years. For the year ending June 2023, 91,458 tons produced and valued at AU$69.2million with 10 percent sent to be processed, according to the latest figures from Hort Innovation's Statistics Handbook. That was a drop of two percent in volume from 2022, but the value was slightly up by four percent. Only a small number is sent to export, 987 tons (+16% from 2022) worth $1.9 million (-20%). There is year round supply of sweet potato across Australia, with all mainland states having production regions, with high seasons from November to February. The retail price of sweet potato in Australia from the major retailers is between $4.50-$5.00 per kilogram, or roughly $2.50 each for an average sized piece for the gold variety. The Gold variety takes up 90 per cent of production in Australia, but there are Red and Purple sweet potatoes that are particularly more available towards the end of summer.
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