The Belgian potato industry has developed into one of the fastest growing sectors in the country’s food industry in recent years, according to Belgapom, the Belgian potato trade and processing industry association.

This is due to the significant investment in capacity and quality, a trend which continued in 2017. Thus, last year, 4.57 million tons of potatoes (+ 3.6 %) were processed into fries, crisps, croquettes, flakes, granules and other potato products.

Noticeable in 2017 is the exceptional increase in products other than fries (crisps, croquettes, mash products, flakes, etc.), which evolved from 468,513 to 690,159 tons (+ 47.5%).

The share of frozen and fresh fries rose from 1.91 million tons to 1.99 million tons (+ 4.3 %), however that of fresh refrigerated fries fell by 3.5 %.

For the 2017-2018 season, statistics show an absolute record harvest for Belgium, totaling 5,11 million tons of potatoes. This increase results from the expansion of planted areas, the choices of varieties and the influence of weather conditions. The figures published by Belgapom relate to the 2017 calendar year, which spans two potato seasons (2016-2017 and 2017-2018).

A record sum of over EUR305m was invested in the potato processing sector in 2017. Employment in the sector once again grew by 7.1 % (4,410 people).

According to the latest statistics, Belgium remained by far the largest exporter of frozen potatoes in the world in 2017, with 2.2 million tons. The share of third countries continues to increase.

On the eve of the national holiday in 2017, all the competent authorities recognized the ‘frietkot culture’ as national intangible cultural heritage. On that occasion, Prince Laurent of Belgium granted the mandate of “ambassador of the Belgian frietkot culture abroad” to James Bint, the famous cartoon character who, similarly to James Bond, has a ‘license to fry’.

Last year, the image of James Bint was used to start the promotion campaign for ‘Belgian fries, from the heart of Europe’ in southeast Asia.

On the other side of the world, a threat is emerging, according to Belgapom. Belgian (and European) fries risk becoming the victim of protectionist reflexes that threaten international trade.

After unjustified antidumping measures by the Brazilian government (the legal complaint against this by the European companies is still pending), a decision by the Colombian government is soon also expected about a similar case.