Sales of old season potatoes continue to be limited by the high temperatures. Demand in the peeling sector however remains more positive as we enter the holiday season and more people are dining out.
There is still a limited supply of new season potatoes on the market with prices remaining very stable as demand far exceeds supply. It now appears that improved supplies of new season crop will not be available for another two weeks at least.
Most of the first earlies i.e. Premier and HomeGuard are now cleared from the south and south east and we must now wait for the next batch of earlies which weren’t planted until mid April.
Potato crops are now very stressed due to the drought conditions. Where irrigation is available, it is doing little more than keeping crops alive when temperatures are so high. This is delaying the harvest date for main crop even further and, means that old crop in cold storage will be needed into October, particularly for the peeling and processing markets.
Ex-Farm Potato Prices reported to IFA
| Low | High | Average | |
| Rooster Box | €240 | €300 | €260 |
| Rooster 10kg | €2.40 | €3.00 | €2.60 |
| Whites | €180 | €230 | €210 |
| Kerr Pink 10kg | €3.20 | €3.70 | €3.50 |
| Golden Wonder10kg | €4.50 | €5.50 | €5.00 |
