May 20, 2010Potato Stocks Up 11 Percent From May 2009
The 13 major potato states held 87 million cwt. of potatoes in storage May 1, up 11 percent from a year ago. Potatoes in storage accounted for 23 percent of the 2009 fall storage States’ production, 2 percentage points above May 1, 2009.
Klamath Basin stocks totaled 770,000 cwt. on May 1, up 3 percent from a year ago. Klamath Basin stocks include potatoes stored in California and Klamath County, Ore.
Potato disappearance, at 297 million cwt., was 2 percent above 2009. Season-to-date shrink and
loss, at 26.6 million cwt., was up 19 percent from the same date in 2009.
Processors in the nine major states have used 142 million cwt. of potatoes this season, down 5 percent from the same period last year. Dehydrating usage accounted for 26.6 million cwt. of the total processing, down 6 percent from last year.
