Angel Muñoz and Cosme Catalan, managing directors of Agromar Hispana and Patatas Catalán S.L., and partners in the Uniplanta company speak to Fruit Today euromagazine. [b]How did the last season go?[v]
The season started off with a number of difficulties but ended up fairly satisfactorily. Prices were good for the farmer and the entire Cartagena production reached the market during its natural term.
When will new potatoes be available and what are the price perspectives?
The Liseta and Carrera varieties reached the market in mid-April and our most important variety, the Frisia, is available from the end of April. This year we have to compete with a fairly large French production which will go out at very low prices. However, February frosts have meant that Israel has a reduced crop and smaller size potatoes. We are expecting a very high quality crop of new Cartagena potatoes and believe that this may serve to reverse the rather stagnant state of the market ever since the start of the year. The higher quality of the potato crop from the Cartagena area with respect to that of other regions will give us a market edge.
What are you aims at Uniplanta?
Uniplanta distributes HZPC Holland seed potatoes in Cartagena and is jointly formed by Patatas Catalán S.

L., a specialist in industrial potato varieties, and Agromar Hispana S.A., a specialist in ware potatoes. Uniplanta also commercializes the Cartagena production for the domestic market and develops production programmes for certain varieties of potatoes for HZPC Holland. Outside this joint co-operation, both Agromar and Patatas Catalan continue to pursue their traditional activities individually.
What varieties are you backing?
We consider the Frisia variety to be the best of all the potato varieties we distribute from the Cartagena region. The high dry matter content, culinary quality, shape and washable skin of the Frisia make it the variety of choice for the most demanding customers. There has been a noticeable surge over recent seasons in the demand for Frisia by Spanish packers, particularly for the fried and pre-washed market. The most widely cultivated varieties, in addition to Frisia, are the Liseta, Carrera, Berber, Carlita and Monalisa varieties.
Each year at our field centres we attempt to discover and develop new varieties aimed at different segments of the market.