US Potato Stocks Down 18 Percent From April 2010

The 13 major potato States held 106 million cwt of potatoes in storage April 1, 2011, down 18 percent from a year ago.

Potatoes in storage accounted for 30 percent of the 2010 fall storage States' production, four percentage points below April 1, 2010.

Klamath Basin stocks totaled 1.20 million cwt on April 1, 2011, down 8 percent from a year ago. Klamath Basin stocks include potatoes stored in California and Klamath County, Oregon.
 

Potato disappearance, at 246 million cwt, was 4 percent below April 1, 2010. Season-to-date shrink and loss, at 20.4 million cwt, was down 16 percent from the same date in 2010.

Processors in the 9 major States have used 127 million cwt of potatoes this season, up 2 percent from the same period last year.

Dehydrating usage accounted for 19.5 million cwt of the total processing, down 16 percent from last year.