The USDA reports that growers in the storage states held 215.7 million cwt of potatoes on Feb. 1. That is 23.8 million cwt more than those same states had in storage a year ago, a 12.4% increase. It is the largest Feb. 1 inventory since 2021. Eight of the 12 reporting states had more potatoes in storage on Feb. 1 than they had a year ago. At 68.0 million cwt, U.S. December-January potato disappearance exceeded the 2022/23 pace by 3.5%.
USDA puts Michigan’s Feb. 1 potato stocks at 8.9 million cwt. That is 700,000 cwt, or 8.5%, more than the state held a year earlier. USDA increased its estimate of the state’s Dec. 1 potato stocks by 500,000 cwt. At 4.1 million cwt, December-January disappearance fell 400,000 cwt short of year-earlier movement, an 8.9% decline. Chip potato movement dropped by 657,000 cwt, or 28.4%, relative to last year. On the other hand, table potato movement climbed 154,000 cwt above year-earlier shipments, a 32.8% increase.
Exports could act as an over-supply relief valve for the North American potato industry. However, that did not occur during November and December. The U.S. exported 5.5 million cwt of potatoes and potato products (raw product equivalent) during December. That is 589,000 cwt less than year-earlier sales, a 9.7% decline. It follows a 12.7% downturn in November. The largest decline came in frozen product exports, down 18.2% from December 2022 sales. Fresh potato exports dropped by 1.7%. Dehydrated product and potato chip exports were down 0.3% and 0.8%, respectively. The value of December potato imports exceeded the value of exports by $77.96 million. The cumulative net import value during calendar year 2023 totaled a record $749.95 million.
U.S. packers shipped 1.661 million cwt of table potatoes during the week ending Feb. 17. That is up from 1.538 million cwt shipped a year earlier. Michigan packers shipped 88,190 cwt of potatoes during the week ending Feb. 17. That is up from 64,025 cwt shipped during the same week in 2023. Last week’s Michigan shipments were 84.0% russets, 10.0% yellow potatoes, 3.8% round white potatoes, and 2.2% red potatoes.
The USDA reports that Michigan packers are selling size A russets in 10-pound bags for $10-$14.75 per 50-pound bale, unchanged from last week. They are selling size A russets in 5-pound bags for $11-$15.75 per 50-pound bale, also unchanged. Wisconsin packers are selling size A russet potatoes in 10-pound bags for mostly $8.50-$9.50 per 50-pound bale, unchanged from last week. They are selling russet 40-70 count cartons for mostly $10-$12 per 50-pound box, also unchanged. The weighted average shipping point price for Idaho Russet Norkotahs is $13.81 per cwt, down from $14.04 per cwt last week.
Red River Valley packers are selling size A yellow potatoes in 2,000-pound tote bags for mostly $21-$22 per cwt, unchanged from a week ago. They are selling yellow creamers in 50-pound cartons for mostly $30-$32 per 50-pound box, also unchanged.
– Report by North American Potato Market News