​​World Potato Map: Potato processing has picked up steam

The global potato market is undergoing major changes, particularly in the processed products segment, which has seen significant growth in the popularity of frozen fries. In the period 2019-2024, international trade in frozen potato products surged, with export values rising from USD 7.7 billion to USD 13.2 billion. Both market growth and higher prices drove the surge in export value, as costs for growing and processing potatoes increased substantially across the world.

In the last five years, the US was a major force behind the increased imports of frozen processed potato products. But imports also increased in the UK, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Germany, and Spain, among many others. Large emerging markets such as China and India turned from net importers to net exporters through a strong expansion of their domestic processing capacity. Though per capita consumption levels of processed potato products are still relatively low outside of North America, Europe, and Oceania, they are rapidly growing in other regions, like Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America.

We expect that in the coming years emerging markets will continue to gain share in global potato production and processing, driven by these regions' increasing demand and competitiveness.

In the US and Europe, average yields are already high, and raising them increasingly challenges producers. Furthermore, challenges such as weather extremes and regulations (particularly on crop protection) are hampering the Netherlands from further expanding its seed potato exports, which currently account for about half of global exports.

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