Weekly Potato
Report
September 1, 2010
Chip
companies are pulling 2010 contract potatoes about one week ahead of schedule.
Companies are running plants almost entirely on contract potatoes. Any open
sales would be at, or near contract price, but very few open sales are
occurring.
Growers
across the eastern US are pleased with this year's crop. Most report that
yields are down from last year, but that quality is much better. They believe
that they will have more deliverable potatoes this year than they produced in
2009. In many eastern growing areas storage and quality losses claimed close to
25% of the 2009 crop. Growers believe that the lower solids on this year will
make it easier to store potatoes without the serious bruising that marred the
2009 crop.
Wisconsin's
chipstock production could be down significantly in
2010. Early yields have fallen 20% below year-earlier levels. Growers are
hoping that yields will improve as the storage season gets under way.
Nevertheless, it appears that average chipstock
yields will be down at least 10% from those on the 2009 crop. In addition, this
year's early wet weather allowed late blight to get established in the
Wisconsin crop. The weather has dried out during the last 2-3 weeks, providing
growers with hope that they will not have to deal with tuber blight in storage.
Nevertheless, there is a great deal of concern about how well Wisconsin's
potato crop will store. A wet harvest would exacerbate conditions.
Russet
table potato growers are concerned about the size profile of the 2010 potato
crop. Though there are exceptions, most growing areas are reporting that this
year's crop has a heavy set, which is not allowing tubers to size up as much as
they normally would. In some areas, the slow start to the
growing season and erratic summer weather have added to the concerns.
The result has been unusually heavy shipments of consumer bags, and limited
volumes for large count cartons. In some years, a small Russet size profile
during August and September has convinced growers to let storage crops grow
longer, in order to get more size. That can result in a shift toward to large of a tuber size profile, resulting in a shift to
strong consumer bag prices, and weak prices for large count cartons. However,
most observers are convinced that the growing season is not long enough to
create such a reversal this year.
Wisconsin
packers are selling Russet non-Size A baled 10# bags
for $7.50-$8.00 per bale, unchanged from last week. Wisconsin 50-70 count
cartons are bringing $15.00 per 50# box, also unchanged for the week. The weighted average price for Idaho Norkotahs slipped to to $18.73
per cwt, from $18.77 per cwt
a week ago.
Onaway
sales are in too few hands to establish an official price, but USDA reports
that current sales are at $1.50-$1.60 per 10# bag, down from $1.60-$1.65 a week
ago. Delaware shippers are selling size A Round White potatoes in 50#
bags for mostly $7.00 per bag, unchanged from last week. Delaware Chefs are
selling for $12.00 per bag, also unchanged for the week. USDA has started to
report Long Island prices for Round White potatoes. It reports that packers are
receiving $7.00-$7.50 per 50# sack for Size A Round
White potatoes.
Michigan
shipped 14,400 cwt of potatoes during the week ending
August 28. That is down from 24,200 cwt shipped
during the same week in 2009. Last week's reported shipments were 57.2% Russets
and 42.8% Round White potatoes.
This
weekly newsletter has more complete potato market information. For subscription
information call (208) 525-8397, fax (208) 525-8569, write
This
Weekly Potato Report includes current
If
you would like to receive this report either by E-mail or Fax, please call the