Chip potato markets remain extremely quiet, as plants are running exclusively on contract potatoes. Early-season contract volumes are down significantly in the southern growing regions. Contract volumes for main-crop chip potatoes are expected to be flat or down slightly.
U.S. chip potato movement during November totaled 4.32 million cwt. That is 132,000 cwt less than the in-dustry shipped a year earlier, a 3.0% decline. At 957,000 cwt, Michigan’s November shipments fell 25.8% short of 2022 movement. Wisconsin shipped 776,000 cwt during the month, 1.1% more that it shipped a year earlier. Chip potato movement from the Mid-Central region (Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska) dropped by 21.7%, while reported shipments from New York fell 2.0%.
Season-to-date (Aug. 1 through Nov. 30) U.S. chip potato movement nearly matched last year’s pace, at 17.40 million cwt. Michigan shipped 3.34 million cwt of chip potatoes during that timeframe, which is 19.3% less than year-earlier movement. Season-to-date chip potato shipments from Wisconsin fell 9.2% short of year-earlier movement.
U.S. packers shipped 1.572 million cwt of table potatoes during the week ending Dec. 2, 2023. That is up from 1.384 million cwt shipped a year earlier. Michigan packers shipped 57,795 cwt of potatoes during the week ending Dec. 2. That is up from 52,640 cwt during the same week in 2022. Last week’s Michigan shipments were 83.4% russets, 6.6% yellow potatoes, 5.7% round white potatoes, and 4.3% red potatoes.
The USDA reports that Michigan packers are selling size A russets in 10-pound bags for $11.50-$14.75 per 50-pound bale, unchanged from last week. They are selling size A russets in 5-pound bags for $12.50-$15.75 per 50-pound bale, also unchanged. Wisconsin packers are selling size A russet potatoes in 10-pound bags for mostly $9-$11.50 per 50-pound bale, down from $10-$11 per 50-pound bale a week ago. They are selling russet 40-70 count cartons for mostly $11-$13 per 50-pound box, down from $11.00-$13.50 per 50-pound box last week. The weighted average shipping point price for Idaho Russet Norkotahs is $15.93 per cwt, down from $16.16 per cwt last week.
Wisconsin packers are selling 10/5-pound bales of size A yellow potatoes for mostly $16 per bale, unchanged from a week ago. They are selling 50-pound cartons of size A yellow potatoes for mostly $16 per 50-pound box, also unchanged. Red River Valley packers are selling size A yellow potatoes in 2,000-pound tote bags for mostly $22 per cwt, unchanged from last week. They are selling yellow creamers in 50-pound cartons for mostly $30 per 50-pound box, also unchanged.
– Report by North American Potato Market News