Portugal potato production remains stagnant with 2015-2019 figures

According to the Monthly Bulletin of Agriculture and Fisheries of the National Institute of Statistics (INE) of September, the irrigated potato harvest has already ended in some regions (Península de Setúbal, Entre Douro e Minho).

Most potato plantations reached the stage of maturation and harvest in good development conditions, with a 5% decrease in production compared to the previous season, but slightly above the average of the last five years.

Overall, the quality of the tubers is good. Occasionally, either due to the incidence of outbreaks of uncontrolled mildew, or due to the heat of the second half of September (which, by creating cracks in the soil, facilitated the laying of moth eggs on potatoes), there are harvests with lower quality or with less storage capacity.

It is also worth nothing that the price of potatoes have fallen (in July and July it remained at 40% below the prices practiced in 2019; in August in continued with a drop close to 20%), which has caused concern among producers, especially those who do not have the capacity to store production and wait for prices to bounce back.