Wisconsin’s storage chip potatoes from the 2023 crop are nearly cleaned up. Florida’s shipping season is winding down. North Carolina’s harvest is in full swing. Shipments from Virginia are picking up. The chip potato harvest is expected to get underway in Indiana, Illinois, and Southwest Michigan within the next few weeks.
The U.S. exported 6.58 million cwt of potatoes and potato products (raw product equivalent) during May. That exceeded year-earlier shipments by 90,000 cwt, or 1.4%. Increased frozen product, fresh potato, and potato chip exports were partially offset by a reduction in dehydrated product exports. Fresh potato exports rose 7.3% above May 2023 movement. Frozen product exports jumped by 12.3%, while potato chip sales increased by 9.6%. In contrast, dehydrated product exports fell 17.2% below last year’s record exports. The value of May potato imports exceeded the value of exports by $83.40 million.
Canada reports that it still had 14.8 million cwt of potatoes from the 2023 crop left in storage on July 1. That is up from 8.3 million cwt a year earlier. The data is incomplete since New Brunswick’s stocks were not reported. Most of the remaining supplies are intended for frozen processing. However, Ontario reported that it had 443,000 cwt of chip potatoes left in storage on July 1. That is up from 115,000 cwt a year ago. At the June usage rate those potatoes would be cleaned up by July 23. Quebec reported that it had 723,000 cwt of processing potatoes (frozen and chip) in storage on July 1.
U.S. packers shipped 1.374 million cwt of table potatoes during the week ending July 6. That is up from 1.324 million cwt shipped a year earlier. Michigan packers shipped 35,875 cwt of potatoes during the week ending July 6. That is up from 27,850 cwt shipped during the same week in 2023. Last week’s Michigan shipments were 81.8% russets, 15.7% yellow potatoes, and 2.5% round white potatoes.
USDA has stopped reporting prices for Michigan as the state’s shipping season winds down. Wisconsin packers are selling size A russet potatoes in 10-pound bags for mostly $7.50-$9.50 per 50-pound bale, unchanged from a week ago. They are selling russet 40-70 count cartons for mostly $13-$15 per 50-pound box, also unchanged. The weighted average shipping point price for Idaho Russet Norkotahs is $11.46 per cwt, up from $11.43 per cwt last week.
Virginia packers are selling 50-pound sacks of size A round white potatoes for $16.50 per bag, down from $19.50 per bag a week ago. They are selling 50-pound Round White Chefs for $24.50 per bag, unchanged from last week.
Virginia packers are selling 50-pound sacks of Size A yellow potatoes for $24.50-$25.50 per sack, unchanged from last week. They are selling 2,000-pound tote bags of size A yellow potatoes for $46-$48, also unchanged.
Report by North American Potato Market News