# Potatoes: Trading

The Maine potato futures that built, then shook, NYMEX

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/potatoes/trading/

What this tab covers How and where it is bought and sold: who buys and sells, exchanges and benchmarks, contract types, the big trading houses and how prices are discovered.

Potatoes have a famous futures history. Maine potato futures were the mainstay of the New York Mercantile Exchange from 1941 (Yergin, pdf p. 1248). A delivery default in May 1976, then the largest in commodity futures, nearly ruined the exchange and pushed it toward heating oil and crude (Blas & Farchy, pdf p. 102; Morgan, pdf p. 454). Today EEX in Europe lists processing-potato futures, but most volume trades under processor contracts. These fix price and volume before planting, with uncontracted potatoes sold at spot.

#### Where it is bought (buyers)

- Fry and chip processors buy under pre-season contracts in Belgium, the Netherlands, the US, Canada and Gujarat
- Wholesale traders in Indian mandis such as Agra and Azadpur buy from farmers and cold-store holders
- Importers in Belgium, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands buy fresh potatoes from neighbouring countries

#### Where it is sold (sellers)

- Dutch, French and German growers and traders export fresh and seed potatoes
- Egypt (6.4% of world export value) and Canada (7.6%) export fresh potatoes (UN Comtrade 2023)
- Indian farmers and cold-store owners sell into domestic mandis

#### Exchanges and benchmarks

| Venue | Contract | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| **EEX** | Processing potato futures, cash-settled, euro per 100 kg | European reference; thin trading |
| **India** | none active | no Indian potato futures currently trade; mandi auctions set prices |

#### Contract types

- Pre-season fixed-price contracts between processors and growers
- Buy-back contracts with seed supply (India)
- Free-market spot sales from store

#### Top trading houses

- Specialist potato traders in the Netherlands and France; in India, commission agents and cold-store operators

#### How prices are discovered

- Mandi auctions reported on Agmarknet
- EEX futures and Dutch and Belgian free-market quotations
- Processor contract prices set before planting

## Other sections

- [Summary](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/potatoes/index.md)
- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/potatoes/overview/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/potatoes/correlation/index.md)
- [Extraction](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/potatoes/extraction/index.md)
- [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/potatoes/production/index.md)
- [Stocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/potatoes/stocks/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/potatoes/cycles/index.md)
- [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/potatoes/movement/index.md)
- [Criticality](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/potatoes/criticality/index.md)
- [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/potatoes/characteristics/index.md)
- [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/potatoes/emissions/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/potatoes/links/index.md)