Potato imports have increased, France remains the main supplier

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According to a preliminary estimate by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), a record amount of potatoes of around 13.4 million tons will be harvested in Germany, which is 5.3 percent more than in 2024. The area has increased to 301 thousand hectares (+6.7 percent), which is the largest cultivation area since 2004. The average yield is 44 tons per hectare (+5 percent). In Poland, the Statistical Office (GUS) estimated the potato harvest in 2025 – after two weak seasons – at 6.8 million tons, which is 15 percent more than a year earlier. According to data from the Central Statistical Office, the potato cultivation area and yield in Hungary showed a decreasing trend in previous years, but in 2024 12 percent more potatoes (234.3 thousand tons) were produced than a year earlier. According to the publication of the AKI Institute of Agricultural Economics “Information report on autumn agricultural work based on operational reports of October 8, 2025”, the crop was harvested on 88.8 percent of the potato sowing area, 5.57 thousand hectares: the national average yield was 23.9 tons per hectare, and the yield was 133.18 thousand tons.

According to the Central Statistical Office (KSH), imports of table potatoes increased by 24 percent to 38.3 thousand tons between January and September 2025 compared to the same period of the previous year

The largest supplier remained France, from where imports increased by 34 percent to 26.5 thousand tons. In the first nine months of this year, imports of new potatoes increased by 26 percent to 10.9 thousand tons compared to the same period of the previous year. 7.08 thousand tons (–3 percent) of new potatoes arrived from France. Exports of new potatoes decreased by 8 percent to 3.8 thousand tons in the observed period. The largest target markets were Poland (+100 percent, 1194.0 tons), the Czech Republic (–40 percent, 1065.8 tons) and Croatia (–24 percent, 822.2 tons). According to AKI PÁIR data, this year’s new potatoes were offered at the Budapest Wholesale Market at a price of 566 forints/kilogram, 16 percent higher than the previous year, in weeks 17–25 of 2025. Following the end of the prime product, the producer price of potatoes increased by 7 percent to 241 forints/kilogram in weeks 26–44 of 2025 compared to the same period of the previous year. French potatoes appeared on the market from week 40 at a price of 210 forints/kilogram, and their wholesale price decreased by 22 percent to 210 forints/kilogram in weeks 40–44 of 2025 compared to the same period of the previous year.

AKI PÁIR