Potatoes South Africa chief executive officer (CEO) Willie Jacobs has allayed fears about the increase in potato prices over the upcoming festive season and the impact it could have on ‘slap chips’, a South African favourite among other potato dishes. This comes after the impact of the black frost disaster was forecast to spike the price of potatoes and the impact it could have on fries, making them a luxury. Initial import volumes showed a sudden uptick in demand for frozen French fries in August, reaching over 1,317 tonnes from zero tonnes in July – a record high for the year, and more than four times the previous peak of 312 tonnes seen in January.
Back to normal The Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity Group’s Household Affordability Index revealed a sharp spike of 11% in the price of 10kg of potatoes between August and September. However, Jacobs told The Citizen they have been keeping track of the production and price forecast trends of potatoes, with the purpose of keeping all stakeholders informed to make parties attend to the effect of the black frost disaster in Limpopo. “We have made it clear that the aftermath of this event would play out around the last two weeks of September, as it did.
If you follow the trend of our forecast, you’ll see that we are through this low delivery volume period and that deliveries have resumed as normal. “Unfortunately for some of the farmers in Limpopo, hit by frost, their urgency to catch up with the shortfall .