Dec 17, 2009December Stocks Up 9 Percent
USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service released the first stocks report for the 2009 potato crop Dec. 15. December potato stocks are 9 percent higher than December 2008.
The 13 major potato states held 265 million cwt. of potatoes in storage on Dec. 1, 2009, up 9 percent from a year ago but slightly below 2007. Potatoes in storage accounted for 69 percent of the 2009 fall storage states’ production.
Klamath Basin stocks totaled 4.5 million cwt. on Dec. 1, up 13 percent from a year ago. Klamath Basin stocks include potatoes stored in California and Klamath County, Ore.
Potato disappearance, at 120 million cwt., was 5 percent below Dec. 1, 2008, and down 9 percent from 2007. Season-to-date shrink and loss, at 14.1 million cwt., was up 11 percent from the same date in 2008 but 1 percent below 2007. Processors in the nine major states have used 60.9 million cwt. of potatoes this season, down 12 percent from the same period last year and down 17 percent from two years ago.
Dehy usage accounted for 11 million cwt. of the total processing, up 3 percent from last year but 14 percent below the same period in 2007.
