TRADE AND MARKETING Potato sector keenly anticipates growth of Polish supermarkets explains: ‘An important political party, the PIZ, has proposed leasing out land that belongs to big companies to small companies. This way of addressing political issues can set back the total Polish agricultural sector and put the brake on the development that supermarkets and big growers have initiated. The proposal is that crop growers, who lease more than 400 hectares of land, hand back 30 percent. The remaining hectares can then be purchased. As Poland has many large enterprises, this means an enormous landslide. Look, a rent of 100 euros per hectare is low. On average, agricultural land costs 5,000 euros per hectare. In other regions, this increases rapidly to 15,000 euros. If a big grower doesn’t want to buy the remaining 70 percent, but want to continue to lease it, that’s possible. You don’t necessarily have to return the 30 percent, but chances are then that your land will be sold on the free market after the long lease period. Even if the purchase price is not high in comparison to other European countries, the amount can never be profitable, as most potato growers have switched the bulk of their acreage over to wheat. Survey to broaden the product range After this political aside, Wróbel returns to his packaging activities. He tells us that, in spite of his worries about the political situation, he is hopeful for the future. For example, together with his biggest buyer, the Biedronka supermarkets AWEX grows step by step Radostaw Tyc started his small-packaging business AWEX in Nowe Skalmierzece in 1989. For seven years now, his company has been supplying potatoes to supermarkets in Poland such as Lidl, Kaufland and Biedronka. His packaged products are transported to distribution centres in a 500-kilometre radius around Nowe Skalmierzece. In total, 25 Polish crop farmers supply potatoes to AWEX and for the remainder, the company imports potatoes from France, Italy, Germany and Israel in order to be able to supply potatoes throughout the year. His annual turnover is 60,000 tons of packaged product. Approximately 75 percent comes from Poland itself, the remainder from abroad. From the end of June onwards, AWEX will start with the purchase and packaging of early and mid-early potatoes, logistics manager Jacub Jaroszuk tells us. He buys them during the harvest period and sells them until the end of December. The storage potatoes, which are kept in the company’s own stores, are packaged and sold after December. Only potatoes of good quality are stored after harvesting. ‘We buy all the necessary potatoes during the harvest period. We’re able to store a total of 10,000 tons of potatoes, 6,000 tons of which are put in the mechanical cooling unit, the remainder in sheds with outdoor ventilation. In fact, we need another 10,000 tons of storage capacity, for which the foundations have already been laid. The construction was put off for two years because of the low prices. Things are looking up now, so we’ll continue construction after the winter’, Jaroszuk explains. AWEX is a company that wants to expand step by step and has no wish to enter into heavy financial obligations. ‘The market prices are fluctuating (good for 50 percent of the turnover), he’s thinking about broadening his product range. ‘Yellow-fleshed potatoes are more popular here than the white-fleshed ones. Certainly in the big towns. White-fleshed potatoes are only popular in the Warsaw region. People there think that yellow-fleshed potatoes are pig feed. In the southern part of Poland, however, they are really keen on yellow-fleshed potatoes. And they’re also prepared to pay for them. Last year, we successfully introduced red-skinned potatoes. That’s a nice change and adds colour to the potato display shelf. If the supply increases, it’s important to make a clear difference between them. You must provide the right varieties for each segment and supply potatoes of constant quality all year round. So it’s important that suppliers invest in proper storage. It’s not possible to get all that constant quality from Poland itself’, Wróbel explains, which means that a lot of import is necessary from countries such as France. We buy varieties such as the Agata in the 45 to 70 mm sizes. I myself see possibilities for a comparable variety such as the Colomba. This is a cross between Carrera x Agata, ninety percent of which is suitable for small packaging and the taste is fantastic. A splendid, firm potato, oval-shaped, cooking type AB, which the Polish consumer loves. Gala is currently the biggest variety in Poland, but that will change quickly if I had my say’, Wróbel laughs. ‘The market prices are fluctuating enormously. If you’re not financially sound enough, it’s not easy to survive in the Polish market’, Jakub Jaroszuk of small-packaging firm AWEX knows. Potato World 2014 • number 2 35 Pagina 40

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