The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Potato firms bid to grow markets at Dutch event
EXHIBITION: Local specialists looking to strike major deals at Potato Europe
Local potato specialists Greenvale AP, Cygnet PEP and James Hutton Ltd will be among the exhibitors at next week’s Potato Europe event in Holland.
Exporters are expected to instigate deals worth hundreds of thousands of pounds at the event which attracts 250 exhibitors and 15,000 visitors from around the world.
Niall Arbuckle from Greenvale AP described the show as the ideal venue for striking deals with key clients in countries such as Egypt, Morocco, Israel and Jordan.
“It’s an intense couple of days where we sit down with our customers and agree tonnages for the coming export season,” he said.
“We’ll discuss quality and quantity and the end result is usually 10,000– 12,000 tonnes of potatoes ordered from our key customers.”
Stephen Hole from Caithness Potatoes said that as well as discussing potential orders for the coming season, he wanted to make customers aware that the company had recently started producing seed in Holland, France, Denmark and Poland.
He added: “This will give European customers the opportunity to purchase high-quality seed locally and so allows us to access previously untapped markets.”
The companies will operate from the AHDB Export stand where the levy body’s head of crop trade market development, Rob Burns, is to promote the benefits of Britain’s high health seed potato sector to countries beyond the 30 which currently import seed potatoes.
“We are looking to increase our exports in a number of areas including Russia, the Middle East and Brazil and the show offers us the chance to continue discussions with these target markets,” said Mr Burns.
“Middle East and the Gulf states are of particular interest as potential new markets as their previous supplier of seed potatoes have limited production as part of water-saving measures.”
Potato Europe is held in Emmeloord, the Netherlands, on September 13-14.