Europe's intra-EU potato trade reached 9.0 million tonnes in 2023, valued at EUR 3.0 billion, according to Eurostat data. This represents internal trade between EU member states, with main crop potatoes accounting for 75.1% of the trade value.
The EU also maintains significant trade with non-EU countries. For extra-EU exports, the Netherlands dominates with 60.5% of export value and 57.6% of volume, followed by France (12.6% of value) and Germany (11.1% of value). The EU's external trade generated a surplus of EUR 307.3 million in 2023.
France leads intra-EU exports by value at 30.4% (EUR 910.7 million total), primarily in main crop potatoes with EUR 787.8 million. The Netherlands follows at 26.3%, dominating seed potato exports with 69.2% of all EU seed trade (EUR 293.3 million in seed potatoes alone). Germany ranks third at 18.2% of intra-EU exports. These three countries control 74.9% of all intra-EU potato trade.
The EU imports EUR 356.3 million worth of potatoes from non-EU countries, with early potatoes comprising 58.8% of import value. Egypt supplies 79.7% of early potato imports (approximately 358,000 tonnes), while Israel provides 14.8%.