Potato Stocks - March 1

Rolling across the wire today:

The 13 major potato States held 151 million cwt of potatoes in storage March 1, 2009, down 8 percent from a year ago and 5 percent below March 1, 2007. Potatoes in storage accounted for 41 percent of the 2008 fall storage States' production, slightly below March 1, 2008. Klamath Basin stocks totaled 2.00 million cwt on March 1, 2009, down 2 percent from a year ago. Klamath Basin stocks include potatoes stored in California and Klamath County, Oregon. Potato disappearance, at 217 million cwt, was 8 percent below March 1, 2008 and down 6 percent from 2007. Season-to-date shrink and loss, at 18.7 million cwt, was down 7 percent from the same date in 2008 and 8 percent below 2007. Processors in the 9 major States have used 117 million cwt of potatoes this season, down 8 percent from the same period last year and down 8 percent from 2 years ago. Dehydrating usage accounted for 21.5 million cwt of the total processing, down 15 percent from last year and 23 percent below the same period in 2007.