Following complaints of fraudulent sales linked to the origin and variety that occurred recently, the Spanish FEPEX Potato Committee believes that greater spud market transparency, particularly that related to labeling, and better defense of the national product are priorities.

To address these issues, the regional and national administrations involved must work more closely together.

According to the sector represented by FEPEX (Spanish Federation of Associations of Producers and Exporters of Fruits, Vegetables, Flowers and Live Plants), which met not so long ago, there is ongoing concern over the sale of conservation potatoes from the previous campaign, which are primarily of French origin, but which are marketed as new potatoes from the current campaign, which are of Spanish origin. This concern calls for increased market transparency, particularly concerning labeling.

To prosecute this irregularity, which hurts the Spanish national sector and that allows addressing any fraudulent practice due to false origin, variety, or type of product, the associations of the various autonomous communities that make up the FEPEX Committee will transfer suspicions of fraud to their respective Departments of Agriculture (new or conservation potato), the Agronews Castilla y Leon recently wrote.

Depending on the local agroclimatic conditions, the Spanish potato production sector offers a wide variety of potatoes that are highly technologically advanced and professionalized. The desire for new potatoes from Spain in these months, as well as the demands of some of the most significant grocery chains, have prompted recent campaigns in Andalusia and Murcia to make enormous efforts to have increasing amounts of new potatoes throughout this period, from December to March. Castilla y León, Galicia, and the Basque Country stand out for mid-season or late production, along with Andalusia and Murcia, which have a wide variety of new or early potatoes based on their production cycle.

According to the most recent MAPA Surface and Production Report from November 2022, Spain’s potato cultivated area is 63,591 hectares, and 1.94m tons have been gathered there. This is the first time the country’s total harvest has gone below 2m tons. According to data from the Department of Customs and Excise Taxes compiled by FEPEX, Spanish exports up to November 2022 were 345,885 tons, 11% more than in the same period of 2021, for a value of EUR130m (+22%). At the same time, there was an increase in imports of 923,465 tons (+20%) at a value of EUR309.4m (+53%), demonstrating the importance of potatoes as a source of income for rural Spain.