The 13 major potato states held 172 million cwt. of potatoes in storage March 1, up 8 percent from last year and 10 percent above 2006, according to USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service. Potatoes in storage accounted for 43 percent of the 2007 fall storage states' production, up 2 percentage points from last year.
Processors have used 123 million cwt. of 2007 crop potatoes so far this season, down 3 percent from a year ago but 8 percent above 2 years ago. Idaho and Malheur County, Ore., total processing decreased 1 percent from a year ago, as did Maine's total processing. Washington and the rest of Oregon total processing was down 5 percent from last season.
Dehydrating usage was 25.2 million cwt. of the total processing, down 10 percent from last year but 11 percent above the same date in 2006.
