Demand appears to be picking up for chip potatoes. Open-market potatoes are not as abundant as some industry experts had expected. Harvest is complete in several early growing areas including, North Carolina, Missouri, Arkansas, and Maryland. Harvest is moving forward in the Midwest. Growers and buyers have been pleased with the yields and quality for Michigan's potato crop. Reports from Wisconsin are mixed. Indiana’s crop is in good condition with average yields. Contract negotiations for the 2025 chip potato crop have begun, which is earlier than usual.
North American Potato Market News (NAPMN) expects Canadian growers to produce 126.6 million cwt of potatoes during 2024. That is 2.2 million cwt less than the current estimate for 2023 production, a 1.7% decline. Growers are likely to harvest 388,942 acres of potatoes this year. That is 1,871 acres more than they harvested from the 2023 crop, a 0.5% increase. Based on current conditions, we are projecting this year’s average yield at 325.9 cwt per acre. That is down from last year's record, 332.8 cwt per acre. Until two weeks ago, growing conditions had been the opposite of last year in the Maritime Provinces, Quebec, and Ontario. Those provinces experienced timely rains and nearly ideal temperatures during most of the growing season. Heavy rainfall recently may have caused some crop damage in parts of Quebec and Ontario. On the other hand, the Prairie Provinces received above-average rainfall early in the growing season, though the mid-summer heatwave took a toll on yields.
U.S. packers shipped 1.322 million cwt of table potatoes during the week ending Aug. 24. That is down from 1.422 million cwt shipped a year earlier. Michigan packers shipped 35,625 cwt of potatoes during the week ending Aug. 24. That is up from 34,944 cwt shipped during the same week in 2023. Last week’s Michigan shipments were 90.5% russets and 9.5% round white potatoes.
Wisconsin packers are selling size A russet potatoes in 10-pound bags for $9.50-$11 per 50-pound bale, unchanged from a week ago. They are selling russet 40-70 count cartons for $17.50-$19 per 50-pound box, up from $16-$19 per 50-pound box last week. The weighted average shipping point price for Idaho Russet Burbanks is $12.82 per cwt, up from $12.64 per cwt a week ago. The weighted average shipping point price for new-crop Idaho Russet Norkotahs is $19.68 per cwt.
Wisconsin packers are selling 10/5-pound bales of new-crop size A yellow potatoes for mostly $13-$17 per bale, down from $13-$19 per bale last week. They are selling 50-pound cartons of size A yellow potatoes for mostly $13-$16.50 per 50-pound box, down from $13-$18.50 per 50-pound box a week ago. Big Lake and Central Minnesota packers are selling 10/5-pound bales of size A yellow potatoes for mostly $14-$14.50 per bale. They are selling 50-pound cartons of size A yellow potatoes for mostly $14-$14.50 per 50-pound box. They are selling 2,000-pound tote bags of size A yellow potatoes for mostly $22-$23 per cwt.
Report by North American Potato Market News