During Midsummer week, Finns buy the most early potatoes.
The peak week of early potatoes is currently underway. Mari Moilanen
Early potatoes undoubtedly belong to the Finnish summer and barbecue season. This Midsummer, domestic early potatoes are brought to the table, because there are plenty of them available – and prices have dropped from the wild readings of spring.
Kesko’s purchasing and sales manager Liisa Eronen confirms that the supply of domestic early potatoes is now at its best and availability in stores is excellent.
According to him, the most purchased early potato varieties are Annabelle, Timo and Solist. Of these three varieties, Timo is the oldest, it has been cultivated since the 1970s.
– Annabelle has grown in popularity in recent years and received a lot of attention due to its good taste and quality. However, each early potato variety is tasty and high-quality in its own way, says Eronen.
Lidl selection manager Harri Levo says that in the long term the biggest change can be seen in the popularity of varieties.
– While Siikli was particularly popular in the past, Annabelle’s popularity has grown strongly in recent years. It has established its place on Finns’ summer tables, Levo tells Iltalehte.
The exception in grocery store chains is the S group. Marketing sales manager Katarina Vikman tells Iltalehte that Timo and Solist are the most cultivated and sold varieties in the chain’s national selection of early potatoes. Annabelle is conspicuous by her absence.
The S group is also an exception in how early potatoes are sold. Last year, approximately 70 percent of all early potatoes were sold in bulk in the S group.
– From the beginning of the season, bulk sales are emphasized in early potatoes, because at the very beginning of the harvest, the skin of the potato is so soft that it is not washed and therefore not bagged either. From the beginning of the season, the harvest comes from smaller farmers in the coastal region, Vikman says and continues:
– As the harvest season progresses, the skin of the potato becomes stronger, and the supply of bagged potatoes and thus sales increase. Bagged and washed early potatoes are a very popular product these days.
The early potatoes in Kesko’s selection are already sold more packaged. Of course, there are store-specific exceptions here too.
– However, many of our stores also sell potatoes from local producers, which the store procures itself and which are mostly sold in bulk, so we do not have an exact number to give, says Keskon Eronen.
Lidl’s Levo says that both bulk sales of early potatoes and ready-made bags have their own user base.
– Buying a bag is perceived as easy and effortless, while bulk potatoes are cheaper. The pricing of early potatoes is alive and well depending on the season, and especially in the early season, the price of products can change daily, Levo states.
The same price fluctuation is confirmed by Vikman of the S group. He reminds us that the different stages of processing always add their own value to the price, so a ground potato sold in bulk is cheaper than a washed and bagged early potato.
Potato farmer Jari Rainio sold his early potatoes at the market in Turku. Eeva Paljakka
And what does the future of early potatoes look like?
– Potatoes definitely belong in Finnish summer cuisine and Finns value domestic potatoes a lot. In the long term, however, the sales volumes of early potatoes have been in a slight decline, says Keskon Eronen.
According to Lidl’s Levo, potatoes have maintained their popularity on Finns’ dinner plates and Finns eat potatoes all year round. In summer, especially with the domestic early potato season, the demand for potatoes rises to its peak.
In the S group, last year’s kilo sales of early potatoes in the entire season increased by four percent compared to 2024. But looking at a long period of time, the sale of potatoes and early potatoes has been slightly in a downward direction.
– Last year, 10 percent fewer early potatoes were sold in kilos than in 2019, Vikman says.
He states that before the corona virus, in the years 2017–2019, potato sales decreased slightly every year. Sales were particularly strong during the corona period 2020–2021, when cooking at home grew anyway.
– On the other hand, potatoes are a good and relatively inexpensive raw material, and more kilos of them have been sold after the corona virus in 2022-2025 than in the years before the corona virus, Vikma’s sum.