Potatoworld Magazine

Washed table potatoes share in Spanish supermarkets is growing

June 2019

#Table potatoes #Trade and marketing #Weighing and packaging

Jaap Delleman

The Spanish coastal town of Valencia is home to the potato-packaging company Aquilar Patatas. This more than 50-year-old family business, where Vincente Aquilar is in charge and son Robert focuses on the future, is responding to the growing demand for washed table potatoes from the Spanish supermarkets. ‘Whereas 20 years ago only 20 percent of our table potatoes were washed, it has now increased to 90 percent’, says the company’s commercial director Francisco Gascó.

An Aquilar employee rapidly navigates his forklift truck through the spacious reception hall of the Spanish company that employs a total of 45 people. The truck’s fork holds a fully-loaded ‘big bag’ of table potatoes of the Monalisa variety, also known in Spain as Gioconda. ‘All table potatoes we receive here are delivered in the big bags’, says agronomist José Vincente Doria. Within the company he is responsible for the quality of the potatoes. Doria says that Aquilar will further professionalise the intake of the potatoes in the coming months with the installation of a Wevano bunker reception unit from Emmeloord, for emptying the big bags. ‘This will improve the intake of the potatoes, partly because the drop heights will decrease even further’, Gascó says. The new installation was supplied by Manter Iberica, a subsidiary of the Dutch Manter company in Emmen. In addition to weighing and packaging machines, the Spanish subsidiary has been supplying turn-key projects in the local table potato market since 2013. ‘A single point of contact for a total project with service and maintenance is what the Spanish customers want’, responds Albert Llaquerri of Manter Iberica.

Washing installation that operates separately

*‘All the table potatoes we receive here are delivered in “big bags”’, says agronomist José Vincente Doria.*

From the reception bunker, the potatoes at Aquilar are moved via a fairly steep conveyor belt to the new washing installation from the Dutch company Tummers. The installation is equipped with two washing drums that can operate separately, ‘and together can wash 60 tons of potatoes per hour’, says Hein Kortebos, a representative of the manufacturer from Hoogerheide. After the stone and clod separator, which produces remarkably few clods and stones, the potatoes reach the washing drum. According to Gascó, the potatoes that Aquilar processes at the end of October are lifted by hand and are therefore very clean. This is because a large number of small growers are active in the Valencia region. ‘Many of the growers have less than 1 hectare. The potatoes are harvested by hand and delivered in the big bags. The intake is organised accordingly. Later in the year, when the Spanish stocks run out, we import French potatoes that have been mechanically harvested. The French also deliver these in the big bags. It is important, according to the Spanish commercial director, to remove the stones and clods from these potato lots as quickly as possible. Outside the building, Doria shows the water purification installation. ‘By cleaning the washing water, we reduce our impact on the environment and we save considerably on the cost of the expensive water’, says Doria laughingly.

Responding quickly to trends

*Clean, washed potatoes all year round with, from left to right: Hein Kortebos, Ruben, Francisco Gascó and José Vincente Doria.*

At the washing machine, technical staff member Ruben talks enthusiastically about the smart construction of the line. ‘At the beginning of the season, when the potato skin is not yet firm, we can only wash them and we skip the brushing machine after the washer’, he says. ‘Because our washer has also been developed and tested with the electronic potato which checks for vulnerabilities, it’s excellent for washing delicate products. This means that Aquilar can wash the early harvest without quality problems’, adds Kortebos. Gascó says that he likes to collaborate with Dutch manufacturers’. ‘We’ve switched from ProPak washers and Botman clod and stone separators, which worked well for twenty years, to a Tummers installation. In the six months that the installation has now been running, we’ve not yet had any problems. The capacity of the new washer is much larger than the old one’, he says with satisfaction. The reason why Aguilar has invested in a new washing installation has to do with the rapidly changing consumption pattern in Spain. ‘Consumers don’t have much time and are looking for more convenience in the preparation of a meal. You see this trend towards convenience not only with potatoes. The share of pre-cut vegetables and salads is also increasing on the supermarket shelves’, explains Gascó. ‘A practical development we have to respond to is the fast cooking potato. This shouldn’t take more time than preparing a salad.’ To meet this requirement, Aquilar has successfully introduced a range of microwave potatoes.

Organic market increases

*Automation of the business processes gets a lot of attention at Aquilar Patatas.*

Gascó points out that the Spanish potato market still has a fifty-fifty distribution between the local markets and the supermarkets. According to the FAO, the 46.5 million inhabitants consume 60 kg of potatoes – both fresh and processed – per head of the population each year. This makes the Spanish potato market one of the largest in Europe. ‘Since the economy has picked up again after the crisis of 2013, we see a change in sales, which is moving from the local market to the supermarket’, says the commercial director. Aquilar is already anticipating this change. Seventy-five percent of their turnover already goes to supermarkets, with 90 percent of that going to the Consum and Carrefour supermarket chains. In addition, the company supplies 15 percent of its turnover to the wholesale market. ‘We also have our own sales outlets on the wholesale market. This is an important market because the hotel and catering industry and its suppliers buy there. Spain has a large “out of home” market, where chefs prepare the potato in a great many dishes. Think of the famous Spanish potato tortilla’, explains the Aquilar manager. The trading company sells the remaining 10 percent of the turnover to the processing industry. These are mainly potatoes for processing the local French fries.

The table potato market is changing rapidly

*‘Because our washer has also been developed and tested with the electronic potato, it’s excellent for washing delicate products’, says Tummers’ Hein Kortebos.*

According to Gascó, ten large packagers are currently active in Spain, supplying an increasing share of the Spanish table potato market, which is about 600,000 tons in size. Aquilar sells a total of 55,000 tons of potatoes per year. ‘Despite the increasing market share that goes to the supermarkets, we’ll certainly remain active in the various other markets. It’s important for us to spread the sales risks’, explains Gascó. ’The table potato market is changing rapidly and it’s a challenge to identify trends in time and to respond to them. As small packagers, we often have to switch quickly’, explains the table potato specialist. As an example, Gascó mentions the microwave packaging that the company has recently introduced. Another important trend that Aquilar already responded to ten years ago is the organic market. ‘We were one of the first in Spain to offer organic table potatoes in small packages’, Gascó proudly announces. ‘Today, the Spanish organic market is growing fast. On average, Europe has a market share of 8% of organic potatoes on the shelves, where Spain only has 2%, so there’s still potential for growth’, he outlines the opportunities in the market.

A lot of import from France

*‘At the time, we were one of the first companies in Spain to offer organic table potatoes in small packages’, Francisco Gascó proudly announces.*

In the beautiful Aquilar building, a quality laboratory has been set up where the company determines the quality and range of the supplied potatoes. In this space, the Schouten RT60 grading machine is immediately noticeable, which the quality manager uses to quickly sample the sizes of the potato lots. ‘We received this machine from Van Rijn potato merchants in ‘s Gravenzande 20 years ago, at the opening of this branch. The machine is still working, while the company has long since disappeared from the market’, Gascó says. There is a range of varieties in the laboratory. In this period, the potatoes almost all come from Spain. ‘Roughly speaking, we receive Spanish potatoes from May to November. These come from all the major growing areas such as Cartagena, Andalusia, Valencia and Valladolid. From November to May, the French potato sector is the main supplier. From the Netherlands we buy Agria from companies such as Nedato and Agrico. Looking at the range of varieties, Aquilar wants to distinguish itself with new varieties, with the Lucinda, Vivaldi and Sifra varieties, all from HZPC in Joure, as important trump cards. From these varieties, Aquilar also grows local seed potatoes to supply the growers in the region.

Automation necessary

*The Spanish table potato market demands quick-to-prepare products such as microwave potatoes.*

The potatoes arrive in the spacious packaging hall via an electronic grading machine that sorts them by quality. Here a dozen weighing and packing machines are running. What is notable here is that the company makes extensive use of robots for filling the plastic boxes with which Spanish small packagers supply the supermarkets. Doria tells us that the first robot is already 18 years old. ‘We’ve ordered a new robot to meet the growing demand for table potatoes. In addition, it’s increasingly difficult to find good staff on the work floor, which is why automation of the business processes is becoming increasingly important’, Gascó explains. With this investment, the Spanish company seems ready to continue to grow in the highly-dynamic Spanish table potato market in the coming years. ●