Belgium is known for its fries. And we Belgians love our fries. There are over 5.000 frites vendors in our country of 11.4Million people,
That’s 440 frites vendors per Million inhabitants.
which means there are 10 times more frites vendors per capita as there are McDonald’s per American.
We Belgians eat on average 75kg of fried potatoes every year, almost a third more than the Americans. Fries have earned their place in Belgium’s cultural heritage.
Belgium’s potato production has been growing exponentially the last few years. According to StatBel the potato production even increased by as much as 33.3% in 2019 compared to 2018.
In an average year Belgium exports more than 1Million tonnes of potatoes to over 100 countries.
It’s safe to say that potato production is a major economic part of the Belgian economy. But due to the recent events, this export has been decimated.
At the moment, we live in interesting times, bars and restaurants are closed until further notice. People cannot go out for dinner. And all sport and music events are cancelled.
75% of all fry production is reserved for restaurants, bars and events, the remaining 25% is sold in stores. While those 25% of are sold just fine, we now have a major surplus in fries due to the pause in our social lives.
Since the potatoes are not being sold, their prices have dropped from €135 to €15 per ton.
As a result, the Belgian government urges all inhabitants to eat fries twice a week to make sure the surplus of 750.000 tons of potatoes does not go to waste. That’s 30.000 big trucks full of potatoes. With a total worth of €125 million.
It’s time for us Belgians to unite, and save our economy by staying at home, and eating more fries!
