"The Spanish early potato campaign will kick off with serious problems this year because of the situation with exports to the UK," explains David Sánchez, director of PepSur Marketing. "Spain may have to stop exporting to this country this year because of the latest update to the phytosanitary protocol."
The Epitrix pest, also known as potato flea beetle, is having a huge impact on the plans of many Spanish companies exporting potatoes. The insect was detected for the first time in 2009 in Galicia, then in Asturias (2014) and subsequently in a specific area of Seville, according to reports from competent phytosanitary authorities. As a result, some batches of Andalusian origin affected by Epitrix were recently intercepted in the UK.
Due to this, the British authorities have set up a protocol for all Spanish potatoes, regardless of the variety, which basically makes washing and/or brushing of all potatoes coming from the Spanish mainland compulsory, with the exception of those coming from the Balearic Islands. It has also established a tolerance of 0.1% of soil in tubers, which will not be easy to fulfill.
The regulation came into force on 24 February 2016 and can be read here: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2016/104/pdfs/uksi_20160104_en.pdf.
"It seems acceptable for products coming from the soil, but it is certainly not feasible in the case of certain varieties of early potatoes, whose skin has not been 100% formed and cannot be washed and/or brushed at the time they are harvested," explains the exporter. "If we proceeded to apply these methods, part of the tuber's skin would be removed, and after several days of transit, it would likely present rot symptoms and would be rejected because of quality problems," he argues.
"This decision will seriously affect exports of early potatoes in the regions of Murcia and Albacete, which export mostly to the UK and where the insect has never been detected," he adds.
PepSur Marketing is the subsidiary in Spain of the Pan European Potato Enterprise LTD, a British company with extensive experience and agents of the two major hybridising companies in the UK and the Republic of Ireland: Irish Potato Marketing and CYGNET PB. It is mainly devoted to the marketing of seed potatoes and the introduction and development of new varieties of seed potatoes, as well as to the export of early potatoes.
Political problem?
As already reported by FreshPlaza, inspectors in the Canary Islands are regularly rejecting containers with potatoes of British origin in the ports of Tenerife and Gran Canaria due to excess soil and skin diseases, applying legislation of the 80's. "The number of rejections in the Canary Islands is reaching significant figures.
