2026-03-24 09:40
publication
2026-03-24 09:40
After a record autumn harvest, farmers' warehouses are full of tons of potatoes. Recently, their prices have dropped so much that they cannot even cover production costs. Some farmers would be willing to give away the surplus for free, but there are no interested parties. At the same time, further deliveries of potatoes are reaching the market, including from Germany.
At the beginning, farmers were optimistic about the 2025/26 season, counting on good results thanks to the record potato harvest, which reached approximately 7 million tons. However, as sadyogrody.pl reports, these expectations did not translate into market interest – in March demand remains very weak.
The website gives an example of one of the hosts. As he reports, he has about 300 tons of potatoes left in the warehouse, which were to be picked up at the beginning of March – all arrangements had already been made in advance. Ultimately, however, the contractor resigned at the last minute, explaining it with a surplus of his own goods. The farmer suspects that such situations are not accidental and result from excess supplies from recipients.
They want to give the potatoes away for free, but no one wants them
Even proposals to give away potatoes for free to avoid wasting them do not bring the expected results. There is little interest in such offers. One of the farmers admitted in an interview with the portal that although a few people came forward after placing the ad, these were mainly questions out of curiosity and not a real desire to receive the products.
And more tones are coming from Germany
At the same time as the Polish ones producers have problems with selling their stocks, potato imports into the country continue. The raw material goes to Poland, among others. from Germany, where there is also a production surplus.
As the portal indicates, one of the reasons for this situation is better preparation of German potatoes for sale – they are properly sorted and packaged, and come from varieties tailored to specific market needs. Additionally retail chains more often rely on proven foreign suppliers – points the portal.
However, unofficially there are also other reasons. There are signals that in many cases transport from Germany to Poland is organized free of charge by exporters who want to get rid of surpluses. As one of the large intermediaries stated, the idea is to avoid problems related to excess goods – we read on the website sadyogrody.pl
A four-fold decrease compared to the previous year
The Wielkopolska Chamber of Agriculture indicates that another reason for the current situation may be the better organization of German producers they operate within producer groups and are able to deliver large, uniform quality batches of goods.
People started talking about possible problems last fall. The Chamber points out that increasing the cultivation area – to approximately 211 thousand ha in 2025 compared to 193 thousand ha a year earliercombined with high yields, led to overproduction not only in Poland, but also in other European countries.
As a result purchase prices dropped to approximately PLN 0.20-0.25 per kilogramwhich means even a four-fold decrease compared to the previous year. However, this does not translate directly into retail prices – potatoes are still relatively expensive in stores.
Farmers do not intend to passively wait for the situation to improve. In the face of the crisis, they demand, among others: actions by the Office of Competition and Consumer Protectionsuch as checking the transparency of the supply chain, strengthening control over country of origin markings and monitoring trade margins – we read further on the website sadyogrody.pl
prepared by WM
