Potato prices at the wholesale markets have hit a low as consumers start to look at their food in a new light.
Frank Hipps from the London Markets Information Service told the Journal that the growing trend for convenience food, as well as faddy diets and other changing habits have caused prices to plummet.
White varieties are calling in the cheapest prices on the markets – ranging from 180-250p for 25 kilos.
This time last year, said Hipps, they were going for at least 100p more. While King Edwards and red varieties were looking slightly better at 250-400p with wholesalers.
'It's the old supply and demand story,' said Hipps. 'More potatoes were grown last year than should have been, and people aren't buying as many fresh potatoes – they're favouring frozen versions that don't need to be washed and peeled. I think demand for fresh potatoes, unless things change a lot, will continue to go this way.' Insistent that potatoes still had a place on the wholesale market, Hipps explained he thought growers needed to find out what their market was first. 'The supermarkets are the main buyers via the packers now,' he said. 'And the wholesale market does around a quarter of the trade that they used to because there are not the amount of greengrocers that there were.
'Small, washed potatoes like Charlotte are a salvation though. They make about 170p a kilo, which is a lovely margin. This is what the growers need to do – find their markets. I'm sure there's a future for the potato growing industry but growers need to recognise their target market first.'
