NEPG expects a good harvest this year for the Northwest European countries (Belgium, Germany, France, Netherlands, and Great Britain).

The total harvest is estimated at about 27.9 million tons of potatoes for consumption, meaning an increase of 4.6% compared to last year and an estimated yield of 48.2 t/ha, up 2.9% from the five-year average.

This total harvest would be 11.5% higher than the five-year average, but at this stage, lower than the 2014 harvest, which was 28.5 million tons. Quality is expected to be good, despite weather difficulties at the beginning of the crop season.

The NEPG notes that the total demand for processing potatoes has increased by 1.5 million tons since 2014, while processed products to countries outside of the EU steadily increased during recent months.

NEPG insists that this is the current situation and the final harvest figure may change. NEPG will publish even more precise figures by the end of October / beginning of November.