Market Report May 4th, 2022

News Category: Market Reports
Potato truck

At 1.03 million cwt, Michigan’s April chip potato shipments exceeded 2021 movement by 212,000 cwt, a 25.9% increase. They exceeded the 5-year average movement by 15.3%. The state’s chipstock movement, season-to-date through April 30, fell 533,000 cwt short of year-earlier shipments, a 5.2% decline.

April US chip potato shipments exceeded 2021 movement by 23.1%. At 5.66 million cwt, that is 1.06 million cwt more than the industry shipped a year earlier. April 2022 movement was the largest on record, which exceeded the previous 2018 record by 138,000 cwt. Strong shipments from the Mid-Central region (+321,000 cwt), Wisconsin (+219,000 cwt), and Michigan (+212,000 cwt) were the largest factors in the increase. Shipments from Maine (+130,000 cwt) and the Southwest region (+125,000 cwt) increased substantially. The West Coast region (+90,000 cwt), New York (+34,000 cwt), and the Mid-West region (+27,000 cwt) also posted strong movement during April. In contrast, April chip potato movement fell short of the 2021 pace in the Rocky Mountain region (-55,000 cwt), and the Red River Valley (-53,000 cwt). US chip potato shipments, season-to-date through April 30, totaled 42.4 million cwt. That falls 91,000 cwt, or 0.2% short of year-earlier movement.

US packers shipped 1.575 million cwt of table potatoes during the week ending April 30, 2022. That is down from 1.596 million cwt a year earlier. Michigan packers shipped 58,100 cwt of potatoes during the week ending April 30, 2022. That is up from 43,200 cwt during the same week in 2021. Last week’s Michigan shipments were 99.1% Russets and 0.9% Yellow potatoes.

USDA reports that Michigan packers are selling size A Russets in 10# bags for mostly $11.00-$12.00 per 50# bale, unchanged from a week ago. Wisconsin packers are selling size A Russet potatoes in 10# bags for mostly $10.50-$11.00 per 50# bale, up from $10.00-$11.00 per 50# bale last week. They are selling Russet 40-70 count cartons for mostly $18.00-$19.00 per 50# box, unchanged from last week. The weighted average shipping point price for Idaho Russet Norkotahs is $21.45 per cwt, up from $21.23 per cwt last week.