U.S. chip potato movement, season-to-date (August 1-January 7), is running 3.2% behind last year’s pace. At 23.2 million cwt, that is 763,000 cwt less than the industry shipped during the same 23-week period a year earlier.
Wisconsin (+416,000 cwt), Michigan (+95,000 cwt), the Mid-Central region (+71,000 cwt), the West Coast region (+36,000 cwt), and the Rocky Mountain region (+27,000 cwt) all reported strong movement during that timeframe. On the other hand, reported chip potato shipments fell short of the year-earlier movement in New York (-497,000 cwt), Maine (-483,000 cwt), the Southwest region (-235,000 cwt), and Pennsylvania (-106,000 cwt).
U.S. packers shipped 1.348 million cwt of table potatoes during the week ending January 7, 2023. That is down from 1.660 million cwt shipped a year earlier.
Michigan’s reported shipments totaled 57,000 cwt of potatoes during the week ending January 7. That is down from 65,500 cwt during the same week in 2022. Last week’s reported Michigan shipments were:
- 95.3% russets
- 1.6% yellow potatoes
- 1.6% round white potatoes
- 1.6% red potatoes
USDA reports that Michigan packers are selling size A russets in 10-pound bags for $16-$17 per 50-pound bale, unchanged from last week. Wisconsin packers are selling size A russet potatoes in 10-pound bags for mostly $14-$15 per 50-pound bale, unchanged from a week ago. They are selling Russet 40-70 count cartons for mostly $26-$32 per 50-pound box, also unchanged. The weighted average shipping point price for Idaho Russet Norkotahs is $36.97 per cwt. That is down from $37.30 per cwt a week ago.
Wisconsin packers are selling 10/5# bales of size A yellow potatoes for mostly $19.50-$23 per bale, unchanged from a week ago. They are selling 50-pound cartons of size A yellow potatoes for mostly $19-$23 per 50-pound box, also unchanged. Red River Valley packers are selling size A yellow potatoes in 2,000-pound tote bags for mostly $25-$26 per cwt, up from $23-$26 per cwt last week. They are selling yellow creamers in 50-pound sacks for mostly $30-$32.
– Report by North American Potato Market News