All indicators suggest that this year there will be a downward adjustment in potato acreage, following a very difficult season marked by excessive carryover volumes, particularly when production from Castilla y León—the country’s largest producing region—entered the market, coinciding with significant French stocks.
The potato sector, aware of the surplus issues in 2025, appears to have reacted. By March, a significant reduction in acreage in Andalusia was already evident, alongside delays in planting due to persistent rainfall.
By months, as of 31 January, imports of seed potatoes from the Netherlands into Spain were already pointing to this decline. For the Cartagena and Seville areas, imports stood at 20,077 tonnes, compared to 28,305 tonnes the previous year. This represents a reduction of 8,228 tonnes, equivalent to around 3,000 hectares. In this regard, Javier Boceta, director of Meijer, states: “The first step has been taken and the sector has reacted by planting an acreage that the market can absorb.”
Continuing with the data, by the end of February, imports of Dutch seed potatoes totalled 25,456 tonnes, a figure far below the 39,602 tonnes imported by the same date in 2025.
“Now we just need to see how the sector responds to imports of low-priced, lower-quality potatoes during May, June and July. For this, we need the support of the entire sector and society. Despite this being a very different campaign, I personally see it with optimism,” says Boceta.
Demand
In the same vein, other industry sources indicate that “at some point, strong demand may arise due to a lack of supply, and this could occur in May.”
At the time of closing this edition, no data were available on seed potato imports for the Castilla y León region. However, sector sources told this publication that “they will follow the same trend as in southern Spain, and the overall figure for the country could be around 20% lower than in the 2025 campaign.”
For his part, the Meijer executive believes that, overall, “the adjustment should be more pronounced in the north. To restore balance in Castilla y León, it would be advisable to plant around 3,000 fewer hectares this season.”
What has already happened: major imbalance in Castilla y León
The potato campaign in Castilla y León, the country’s main producing region, began the season with significant instability due to surplus volumes.
The diagnosis is clear: “If acreage planning is not corrected and import flows are not controlled at critical moments at the start of the new domestic potato campaign, Castilla y León will continue to begin each season with a surplus burden that the market struggles to absorb,” sector sources explain.
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“A ‘backlog’ of 160,000 tonnes is not just a figure; it is a symptom of a structural imbalance between production, exports and imports, which requires sector coordination and strategic decisions to be taken between May and July—no sooner, no later,” Boceta states.
This accumulated surplus significantly conditioned market performance and put pressure on prices from the outset.
This has been explained by the director of Meijer Ibérica in conversation with this publication, analysing the evolution of the last three campaigns during the key period of April, May and June, coinciding with early production in the south and later with the start of harvesting in the north.
4,000 additional hectares and declining exports
The origin of the problem lies in a combination of production decisions and commercial imbalances.
On the one hand, early production areas—mainly Andalusia and the Region of Murcia—increased their acreage by around 2,000 hectares. At the same time, Castilla y León planted an additional 2,000 hectares.
In total, 4,000 extra hectares were added to the national production system just before the campaign of the country’s largest producing region began.
This increase in acreage was compounded by a decline in Spanish exports equivalent to around 1,000 hectares, further aggravating the situation.
40,000 tonnes of French potatoes
The imbalance was intensified by import flows. While the spring campaign in southern Spain was underway, approximately 40,000 tonnes of potatoes from France were entering the country simultaneously.
The final outcome, as the executive explains, was that “by the time the campaign in Castilla y León began, the sector was carrying an accumulated surplus of around 160,000 tonnes, which was impossible to resolve.”
Wholesale markets
The director of Meijer also points out that part of these French potatoes, stored for months—“up to nine,” he notes—ended up being marketed in wholesale markets rather than in supermarket chains, directly competing with domestic new potatoes.
According to him, this practice not only puts downward pressure on prices but also devalues domestic products and affects consumption when culinary quality does not meet consumer expectations.
The Portugal effect
The impact was not limited to the domestic market. Salamanca, a key province for exports to Portugal, sold around 110,000 tonnes in 2025, compared to approximately 150,000 tonnes in a normal year.
“This means around 40,000–50,000 tonnes that did not reach the Portuguese market and instead remained within the domestic circuit. In terms of acreage, this is equivalent to more than 1,000 hectares,” Boceta explains.
“When all these variables converge—high imports, declining exports and increased domestic production—it becomes essential to improve production planning, strengthen the stability of export contracts and organise trade flows to prevent the domestic market from absorbing volumes beyond its consumption capacity.”
