IMPORT authorities in Egypt have pushed forward the date for all seed potatoes arriving to December 5, from last year's January deadline.

The move has put more pressure on Scottish seed potato growers supplying their most important market, who will now have little time to spare before sending boxes to Africa by ship.

Next year Egyptian authorities have stated they want all the seed potatoes across by the first of December. The tightening deadlines are being set out to give Egyptian growers more time to get seed into the ground for harvesting before the heat of the Egyptian summer arrives. Last year there was an extension for exports from January 1 to Jan 15, but there is no extension being offered at the moment for this year.

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Seed crops needs 21 days after burn down to be ready for harvest, then after being lifted they need stored to get the field heat out of the tubers. The crop might even get refrigerated to ensure the potatoes are dormant before transporting to Egypt.

The tighter timing is a challenge for farmers to meet with no margin for error. Last year 8000t of potatoes arrived in Egypt after the January 15 cut off and the whole crop was rejected and had to be returned to the UK. The good news is that the Scottish seed potato crop looks to have been harvested in good condition with few disease or quality issues.

Whilst Egyptian buyers are still keen for UK potatoes, albeit with a tighter window, growers are still facing a brick wall trying to get into the EU. Industry insiders explain that all export solutions have been exhausted and many growers have resigned themselves to being locked out of the EU permanently – whilst, somewhat hypocritically, some UK ware growers retain access to EU seed potatoes.