The Michigan potato harvest is virtually complete. The chip potato market is quiet. Chip potato supplies appear to be balanced with demand. Chip manufacturers are dealing with labor issues. Running plants at capaci-ty has been a challenge because of labor shortages. However, trucking is no longer a problem like it was a year ago. Chip companies and growers are working on contracts for the next crop. Production costs have increased considerably over the past two years. Growers will need significant contract price increases to keep up with rising input costs.
US packers shipped 1.626 million cwt of table potatoes during the week ending October 22, 2022. That is down from 1.723 million cwt shipped a year earlier. Michigan packers shipped 75,200 cwt of potatoes during the week ending October 22, 2022. That is up from 64,300 cwt during the same week in 2021. Last week’s Michigan shipments were 95.6% Russets, 3.1% Round White potatoes, 0.7% Yellow potatoes, and 0.7% Red potatoes.
USDA reports that Michigan packers are selling size A Russets in 10# bags for $17.00-$18.00 per 50# bale. They are also selling size A Russets in 5# bags for $17.00-$18.00 per 50# bale, FIRST REPORT. Wisconsin packers are selling size A Russet potatoes in 10# bags for mostly $14.00-$15.00 per 50# bale, unchanged from last week. They are selling Russet 40-70 count cartons for mostly $21.00-$30.00 per 50# box, unchanged from a week ago. The weighted average shipping point price for Idaho Russet Norkotahs is $27.30 per cwt. That is up from $26.08 per cwt a week ago.
Wisconsin packers are selling 10/5# bales of size A Yellow potatoes for mostly $16.00-$19.00 per bale, unchanged from a week ago. They are selling 50# cartons of size A Yellow potatoes for mostly $16.00-$19.00 per 50# box, also unchanged. Red River Valley packers are selling size A Yellow potatoes in 2000# tote bags for mostly $23.00-$26.00 per cwt, FIRST REPORT.