French potatoes at Europe's conquest

The 2006/2007 potato campaign in France, which is the third European producer per volume of this vegetable and the first one as per produce value, has obtained very good export results, totalling over 1.8 million tons, that is a much higher amount compared to the previous years. The great performance was favoured by the particular situation affecting practically all Europe, characterized by difficult climatic conditions.
France, that was able to control its production both in terms of quality and volumes, could therefore benefit last year from an increased demand from foreign markets.
According to data released by the French customs, during the period 1st August 2006 - 31st July 2007, French potato exports grew to 1,816,500 tons (against 1,514,500 the previous year).
Main markets are confirmed to be Italy and Spain, but also foreign sales to Northern Europe (Belgium, Netherlands and Germany) have improved.
France’s exports of potatoes is therefore an industry on the rise: during the same period mentioned above, the value of potatoes for preservation amounted 457.5 million euros, compared to 261.4 in 2005/2006 and 205.9 in 2004/2005.
The first data referring to the campaign 2007/2008 are good, although they don’t equal last year’s levels: since the 1st of August 2007 to the 31st of January 2008, French potato exports amounted 130,300 tons (compared to 205,100 in 2006/2007 and 98,600 in the same period 2005/2006).