Canada Potatoes and Potato Products 2010 (Gain Report)

Canadian growers continue to decrease potato acreage in order to bring production more in-line with market demand.

Statistics Canada reported a decline of 3.2 percent in planted areas, down to 145.4 thousand hectares for the marketing year (MY) 2010/11.

Post forecast a reduction of 3.4 percent in the production of fresh potatoes, down to 4.425 million metric tons (MMT) during MY 2010/11.

Imports of fresh potatoes are forecast to decrease 2.5 percent to 220 TMT during MY 2010/11, while exports are forecast to increase 0.8 percent to 375 TMT.

Given a lower production of fresh potatoes and a strong Canadian dollar, both production and exports of frozen french fries are forecast to decline: the former by 1.9 percent down to 1.15 MMT and the latter by 0.5 percent down to 900 TMT compared to the year before.