US Potato Stocks Down 13 Percent From December 2009

The 13 major potato States held 232 million cwt of potatoes in storage December 1, 2010, down 13 percent from a year ago.

Potatoes in storage accounted for 66 percent of the 2010 fall storage States' production, three percentage points below December 1, 2009.

Potato disappearance, at 119 million cwt, was 1 percent above December 1, 2009. Season-to-date shrink and loss, at 12.5 million cwt, was down 13 percent from the same date in 2009.

Processors in the 9 major States have used 63.5 million cwt of potatoes this season, up 4 percent from the same period last year.

Dehydrating usage accounted for 7.86 million cwt of the total processing, down 28 percent from last year.