display
Brussels (dpa) - In Belgium, fries are something like sauerkraut, bratwurst and currywurst and kebab together in Germany: an identity-creating national dish.
The chips stalls want to become a world cultural heritage, no country exports more frozen potato products than Belgium. But this industry was not spared the consequences of the Corona crisis either. In the spring of last year, farmers stayed seated on their potatoes, the cooling chambers were full to the brim - which led a spokesman for the potato industry to an unusual appeal in April 2020: Eat more fries. A year later he is convinced that the request has worked.
“I gave interviews 24 hours a day these days,” remembers Romain Cools from the Association of the Potato Processing Industry (Belgapom) of the time after his call.
The situation had become increasingly dramatic for the industry: there were already contracts with customers for part of the harvest.
30 to 40 percent would be sold on the open market, says Cools.
And here at the beginning of the corona pandemic in spring 2020, demand fell to almost zero.
750,000 tons of Belgian fries potatoes were lying around without buyers, and the cooling chambers were reaching their capacity limits.
display
“Eat french fries twice instead of once a week” - with this request to the Belgians, Cools wanted to boost sales of frozen potato products in particular. The appeal was a spontaneous response to an interview with a Belgian newspaper. As reported in the English-language media, his appeal went viral. Today Cools is certain: "The appeal and the media interest had a positive effect on the sales figures."
At least they may have prevented an even worse 2020: Investments in the potato processing industry have declined by 15 percent compared to 2019, says Cools. 16.5 percent fewer people were employed in the industry. Instead of the expected 5.6 million tons of potatoes, only 5.08 million tons were processed in 2020 (2019: 5.4 million). The exports of Belgian companies have declined by around ten percent, says Cools. Potato farmers and suppliers also suffered.
To make room in the cold stores, as many potatoes as possible were distributed on boards.
Large quantities of the tuber also ended up as fodder or in biogas plants.
Fortunately, two main buyers of Belgian potatoes - the Gulf States and Brazil - continued to import, says Cools.
It would also have had a positive effect that some Asian countries got the Corona crisis under control.
display
In Belgium, fries are an identity-building element. In the country with different regions and languages, there is only a few points of common pride, as Romain Cools explains. With the national soccer team, for example, with beer, chocolate - or even with the fries. The greasy stalks are eaten at the famous chips stalls. Chancellor Angela Merkel stopped at one of them a few years ago at an almost endless EU summit. Now the chips stalls even want to become a Unesco World Heritage Site, and a corresponding application has been made.
The French fry stalls were less caught off guard by the Corona crisis than the processing industry and exporters. It is difficult to call them a victim, says Bernard Lefèvre, chairman of the national umbrella association of chip shop operators Navefri. Because in the "big family" of gastronomy, the snack bars would have had the opportunity to sell something at least all the time. In contrast to restaurants, which have been closed for nine of the past twelve months, the stalls did not have to close a single day. "Without wanting to, we are right on trend," says Lefèvre. Street food? Food on hand? The chips stalls have been doing this for a long time.
Nevertheless, there were sales losses between 20 and 80 percent, says Lefèvre.
It would have hit tourist-dependent operators in the big cities worse than chips stalls in the country.
However, “pretty good” and quick government support would have helped.
In addition to other measures, there were compensatory payments for stalls that could demonstrate a drop in sales of at least 40 percent.
Lefèvre says that he had not heard that even one of the 4600 or so chips stalls in Belgium had to close.
On the contrary, he even reckons that more and more people could come up with the idea of opening new stalls.
Many still think that the shops that remained open during the Corona crisis were gold mines.
display
So, one year after “Eat more fries”, does another appeal need to be made?
The prices are also low this season, says Cools.
However, it could turn out to be helpful that there was a below-average potato harvest due to the hot and dry summer of 2020.
That could help to bring the market back into balance.
A new campaign is not necessary, says Cools.
"Let's hope that one page stays in the history book of 2020 and never comes back."
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210423-99-319445 / 2
Report in the Belgian "Nieuwsblad" about Cool's appeal in April 2020