NEW SWEET POTATO VARIETY PURPLE SPLENDOR MAY DRIVE USA TRADE TO EUROPE.
EXPORTS of sweet potato from the United States to Europe flourished from the turn of this century, with production increasing massively to meet overseas demand before seeing a decline in 2018.
But Fresh Plaza reports in a recent feature that a new purple variety could be about to up the trend again, with the UK showing the greatest demand.
In 2018 exports started to decrease following Hurricane Florence, which caused significant damage to the sweet potato crop in North Carolina, the largest sweet potato growing state in the nation . Impact on yields and production levels was significant and low production levels caused export prices to increase.
This prompted large European importing countries like the UK and Netherlands to replace US imports with those from other countries such as Egypt where production costs are lower. The US began to lose market share as more and more European countries started cultivating sweet potatoes themselves.
The EU also imposed a temporary 25% tariff on US sweet potatoes from November 2020 until March 2021 and US growers began decreasing their acreage.
Differences in Europe and US
Growing a high-quality sweet potato product in parts of Europe has proved to be no easy task owing to water availability and the need for storage technology investment.
Jacy Barnes Clapp with Farm Pak in North Carolina told Fresh Plaza: “We’ve been able to maintain our export levels in recent years and I strongly believe that is driven by the quality of our product. We’ve been educating our distributor-partners in Europe on the superior quality, taste, and shelf-life of our sweet potatoes. These are key differentiators that make customers come back to us for repeat purchases.” Barnes Clapp adds that strong relationships with their customers have also helped in maintaining export levels. Another benefit for North Carolina is the relative proximity to the European continent. “Shipping from the U.S. East Coast to Europe is very reliable, something our customers appreciate.”
Purple sweet potato variety
About 40% of Farm Pak’s total production is exported and the main destinations include the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, and Spain. Exports to these markets have been stable and there seems to be renewed interest for US sweet potatoes because of a new purple variety that’s available.
Purple sweet potatoes are increasing in popularity. North Carolina State University has developed a new purple variety called Purple Splendor which was commercially harvested for the first time in 2023. The University has worked on the development of this variety for 15 years and since it is patented, farmers can purchase a license, allowing them to grow Purple Splendor.
Blue zones
Purple Splendor has been receiving a lot of attention this year, partly because of a Netflix documentary Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones. A lot of interest has been generated in Purple Splendor, both domestically and in the European market – most notably from the UK.
Barfoots of Botley and Marks & Spencer heavily promoted Purple Splendor and the fact that they offered it.
Labour costs
In North Carolina, labour costs have doubled in the past five years, weighing heavily in the sweet potato industry as all harvesting in North Carolina is still done by hand.
It is hoped that one day sweet potatoes can be harvested mechanically.
Photo: Purple Splendor developed by North Carolina State University.
