Potato Sales in United States Retail Up from April to June

IRI sales data April through June showed success for potato sales in retail outlets in the United States, reports potatoes USA.

Both dollar and volume sales were up for total potatoes sold at retail compared to the same quarter last year. Dollar sales increased by 2.6% and volume sales increased by 2.7%. During the quarter, the average price of potatoes dropped by -0.1%. The drop, the first decline of the fiscal year, brought the average price from $1.77 to $1.76. Five out of the 7 categories of potatoes increased in both dollar and volume sales.

Only two categories showed a decline in volume sales; canned potatoes fell -1.2% and deli-prepared sides fell -5.2%. The largest volume sales increase across all of the potato categories was refrigerated potatoes, which saw a jump of 9.4%. Frozen potatoes increased in volume sales by 6.1%.

Fresh potato sales struggled throughout the 2018/2019 fiscal year but increased during quarter four. Russet potato sales increased 1.5% in volume and 1% in value with a -0.5% decline in price per pound. Yellow, white, and medley potatoes contributed the largest volume increases for the fresh category up by 6.9%, 15.5%, and 24.5%, respectively. Red potatoes saw the largest decline in volume sales falling by -7.5%.

All pack sizes increased in both volume and dollar sales except for 10-pound bags and bulk potatoes. Ten-pound bags of potatoes fell in dollar sales by -2.3% and volume sales by -2.7%. Ten-pound bags account for 19.4% of all volume sales of fresh potatoes; second to 5-pound bags which account for 44.7% of volume sales. Bulk increased in dollar sales by 0.03% but fell in volume sales by -2.0%.