Feb 18, 2010Potato Stocks Up 5 Percent from 2009
The 13 major potato states held 203 million cwt. of potatoes in storage on Feb. 1, up 11 percent from a year ago and 2 percent above 2008. Potatoes in storage accounted for 53 percent of the 2009 fall storage states’ production, unchanged from Feb. 1, 2009. Klamath Basin stocks totaled 2.8 million cwt. on Feb. 1, unchanged from a year ago. Klamath Basin stocks include potatoes stored in California and Klamath County, Ore.
Potato disappearance, at 181 million cwt., was 3 percent below 2009 and down 9 percent from 2008. Season-to-date shrink and loss, at 18.7 million cwt., was up 11 percent from the same date in 2009 and 2 percent above 2008. Processors in the nine major states have used 90.4 million cwt. of potatoes this season, down 9 percent from the same period last year and down 15 percent from two years ago.
Dehydrating usage accounted for 17.1 million cwt. of the total processing, down 7 percent from last year and 19 percent below the same period in 2008.
