Potato stocks report

Compared with the April 1 report, which showed stocks up 10% from year ago levels, the May 1 potato stocks report showed proportionally more spuds on hand compared with year ago levels. Here is the summary from the USDA's potato stocks report of yesterday.

Below is the summary for the May 15 potato stocks report:


The 13 major potato States held 92.7 million cwt of potatoes in storage May 1, 2008, up 17 percent from a year ago and 22 percent above May 1, 2006. Potatoes in storage accounted for 23 percent of the 2007 fall storage States' production, up 3 percentage points from last year. Klamath Basin stocks totaled 570 thousand cwt on May 1, 2008, down 5 percent from last year. Klamath Basin stocks include potatoes stored in California and Klamath County, Oregon. Disappearance from the start of harvest to May 1 was at 307 million cwt, 1 percent below last year but up 3 percent from 2006. Shrink and loss, at 23.4 million cwt, was down 3 percent from the same period in 2007 but up 6 percent from 2006. Processors have used 158 million cwt of the 2007 potato crop so far this season, down 3 percent from last year's season-to-date usage but up 6 percent from 2 years ago. Idaho and Malheur County, Oregon total processing decreased 1 percent from a year ago and Maine's total processing was 3 percent below 2007. Washington and the rest of Oregon total processing was 4 percent lower than last season. Dehydrating usage accounted for 33.4 million cwt of the total processing, down 8 percent from last year but 11 percent above the same period in 2006.