2024 Potato Industry Feast, with a unique flavor in your heart

It's time to summarize again. The potato industry in 2024 is full of joy and sorrow, with a unique flavor in my heart.

Behind the bleakness lies the lack of contractual spirit

For many potato farmers, this year has been the most dismal year in the history of potato cultivation. During April and May, Atlantic went on the market in Suizhou, Hubei, Nanyang, Henan, Feicheng, Shandong, Huludao, Liaoning and other places, but the prices were not ideal. Eventually, they dropped to around 30 cents in the market and were forced to sell at a low price to starch processing factories in North China. This allowed some factories to continue processing from spring until today, breaking the inherent pattern of "seasonal production" in potato starch processing.

Starting from mid August, McKenzie has been widely launched in the North China region, especially in the Bashang area, with prices dropping from the initial 800 yuan/ton cliff style to 350 yuan/ton.

The two excellent processed potatoes, Atlantic and Mackenzie, have gone from being difficult to find a single potato to being knocked off the "altar" in 2024, causing potato farmers to cry and faint in the fields.

Why did this situation occur?

Atlantic potatoes are a variety introduced from the United States and are high-quality raw materials for processing and producing snack foods such as potato chips and fries. Mackenzie No.1 is a variety introduced from Canada with Mackenzie Foods. It has an oval shape and high starch content, making it suitable for processing potato chips and whole flour. Of course, these two varieties are also excellent starch processing varieties.

In 2023, the price of French fries soared significantly, and there was a shortage of stock in the market. The price of potato flour also skyrocketed from the initial 11000 yuan/ton to 17000 yuan/ton. Excellent processed potatoes are simply not enough. Some companies use Xisen No. 6 and Wotu No. 5 as processed potatoes (which means they pass off inferior ones as good, and the quality of French fries and whole flour will be much worse), while also signing large-scale orders with potato farmers. Potato farmers also sensed the business opportunity and began planting Atlantic and Mackenzie on a large scale. If they couldn't buy seed potatoes, they would use the quantity of goods as seed potatoes to grow. This has led to a two-fold increase in the planting area of Atlantic and Mackenzie compared to previous years.

So, the potato company and the potato farmers personally dug a big pit and buried it in thunder, waiting to hear the sound of violent thunder the next year.

Speaking of 2024, the 'invisible hand' will restore everything to rationality. French fries and potato chips will have a slight profit margin, all flour will be unsold, and starch will ｄｒｏｐ from 8500 yuan/ton in spring to below 6000 yuan. When the water falls, the ship sinks, and the price of raw materials naturally drops sharply.

Isn't there an order? Of course, the order is still there. The acquisition requirements of a French fry factory in North China are extremely strict. As for the shape, size, sugar content, and dry matter content of the potatoes, once tested, they are all unqualified and rejected!

At this point, even the best Atlantic Macon potato farmers can only be sent to starch factories. Potato farmers and starch factories have started to play a game again. The author once introduced a large starch factory in North China to a group of potato farmers. The factory signed an order for 30000 acres at a price 5 yuan higher than the market price for each starch content. In a few days, the price of processed potatoes increased, and the potato farmers collectively broke their contracts and stopped delivering. In a few days, the prices of processed potatoes continued to ｄｒｏｐ, and the potato farmers went to the processing plant crying and shouting to execute the contract. It's really magical!

There is a saying that goes:If you don't seek death, you won't find it. As the saying goes, 'Heaven's wrongdoing can still be forgiven, but self inflicted wrongdoing cannot be lived upon.'. Why did the sweet potato feast end up with nothing but chicken feathers? Because there is always a group of smart people in this industry who do not take contracts seriously, ultimately harming others and themselves. How can the spirit of contract be lacking for the healthy development of the potato industry?

Deep processing aims to break through the impasse for the potato industry

At the International Potato Industry Exchange Conference of the 2024 World Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Conference held on October 10th this year, attendees pointed out that the future of the potato industry requires potato starch, deep processed products, and derivative products to break through the impasse and lead the high-quality development of the potato industry.

Potato starch has the advantages of white color, mild odor, large particle size, high viscosity, low gelatinization temperature, high transparency, strong water absorption, high trace element content, and better physical and chemical indicators and industrial application performance. It is now widely used in industrial fields such as food, medicine, petrochemicals, papermaking, textiles, feed, fermentation, casting, and building materials. Therefore, the industry praises potato starch as the "aristocrat" of starch. At present, China has an annual demand of about 800000 tons for potato starch.

Indeed, starch is only the initial processed product of potatoes, and denaturation is the deep processing. Nowadays, European and American countries have developed a series of potato starch deep processing products, such as dextrin, organic acids, amino acids, fruit glucose syrup, vitamins, chemical raw materials and more than 20 categories, with more than 2000 types of products.

Of course, only deep processing can increase the added value of the industry. According to calculations, using traditional techniques to process potatoes into starch can increase its value by 1 times. If modern scientific technology is used for deep processing, lactic acid can increase its value by 3 times; Producing high water absorbent resin can increase its value by 8 times; Producing cyclodextrin can increase its value by 20 times; The production of bio glue increases its value by more than 60 times. It can be seen that potato starch has very high development value and broad market prospects.

Returning from academia to information, there will be new changes in potato starch processing in 2024: due to the influence of planting and weather, potato starch processing in Northeast China will gradually decline, while the Xinjiang production area will rise rapidly. One is the large-scale agricultural machinery for potato planting in Xinjiang, which is fully mechanized from sowing to harvesting, resulting in high yields and fast harvests; Secondly, all potatoes are grown and processed, with high-quality raw materials and higher starch extraction rates; Thirdly, Xinjiang starch has a high viscosity that cannot be compared to other production areas, with an average viscosity of over 1400BU and a maximum of 1800BU.

At the same time, there are also some "smart people" in the potato starch and derivative processing industry in 2024, such as "Northeast Rain Sister" who uses "cassava flour" as potato vermicelli, and a well-known retail food enterprise who also uses "cassava flour" as sweet potato vermicelli; There are also some unscrupulous starch processing companies that take payment and delay shipping to others, or impersonate first-class products as superior products, or simply do not classify them into grades... and so on.

Finally, I would like to say that the potato industry is not owned by the wealthy, nor is it owned by "smart people". It belongs to those who respect planting, processing, and the spirit of contract. In 2025, let's be a 'thoughtful person' in the potato industry!