At Scott Farms in North America, the sweet potato harvest is in full swing. "Our farm started harvesting in week 36. For now, the marketing focus is entirely on Thanksgiving. For exports, the first containers will not go out on the water until week 45. The harvest is going reasonably well. After a warm spring and some rain in between in the summer, the harvest looks good for now," says Pablo Fitskie of the Dutch sales office. He will still receive supplies from the US old crop until week 43.
Pablo Fitskie
"We look back on a good season, both in terms of size, quality, and price. Pricing was fine for a long time until Egypt entered the market with great force. You can question how necessary this is. In any case, it also pulled the price of American sweet potatoes down sharply," Pablo continued. "In America, then, one would have expected somewhat higher prices, because the market there has remained fairly stable. Now sweet potato sales are always a bit quieter here in August, September, and October."
Scott Farms has replanted sweet potatoes in North America again this year, but these will mainly be sold to the strong local market in North America. Pablo himself does not believe in long-term in the local growing projects also started in the Netherlands. "With our high labor wages and the risk of unstable weather in our maritime climate, I don't see those paying off in the long term," he says. For the Americans, sweet potatoes are a piece of history and they can lean on a strong local market. In Europe, we already have a lot of influence from Egyptian competition; it's no different for Dutch growers. You are not going to win that battle financially. You can all be crazy about local products, but you also have to be realistic!"
For more information:
Pablo Fitskie
Scott Farms International
ABC Westland 545-space K5
2685 DG Poeldijk
T: +31 0174 232201
M: +31 (0) 6 14688484 |
[email protected]
www.scottfarmsinternational.com