Potatoes CEO allays fears about ‘slap chips’ becoming luxury

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 is currently causing sporadic oversupply, resulting in significant price reduction.  As they start finding their feet again, stock levels should normalise and similar trends as in previous years can be expected,” Jacobs said.

ALSO READ: ‘Slap chips’ may become a luxury after fry-tening black frost potato impact

More potatoes

Jacob said the balance of the year’s delivery should be slightly higher than in 2023, given the effect of the load shedding that still played out in 2023.

“Causing unsubstantiated panic in the market is not good for either the producer or the consumer, and there is absolutely no reason for stirring up such a fear. Potatoes are a critical element of each household in South Africa, and we as potato producers take full responsibility to ensure our consumers are covered. 

“Evidence shows that opening the economy to subsidised products from other countries is detrimental to the sustainability of products on the shelves, that’s why the import duties are sustained by ITAC (International Trade Administration Commission) and the DTIC (Department of Trade and Industry),” Jacob said.

Costs of potatoes

Jacobs added that if reports regarding the rising cost of fries prices were to be accurate, then the importers shouldn’t need to request the lifting of duties.

“This is because the consumer price would have made it significantly more viable for them to import this product, even with said duties, again emphasising the concern about the particular remarks by the importers.”

Due to speculation of a prolonged impact of the black frost on the potato industry, there were calls for ITAC to urgently implement a temporary import tariff rebate to avert shortages and painful price hikes.

ALSO READ: Fish and chips to cost more in SA as shortage hits the industry