News on Potato Stats, Trade, Prices

Zimbabwe has run out of potatoes for making potato chips, prompting potato chips manufacturer Hanawa Super Foods to request an import permit to buy potatoes from South Africa from the Industry and Commerce ministry.

The National Potato Council (NPC) applauded the Trump Administration’s announcement today to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Great Britain grower-held potato stock levels at the end of March 2017 were at 1Mt, around the same volume as the end-March 2016 and 300Kt less than the end-March 2015 according to an AHDB estimate.

The potato disease Dickeya can be detected by laboratory testing — but is there enough of it present to justify the higher costs? That is the question facing Canadian Seed Potato Growers exporting to the United States who are increasingly asked for the test.

For almost 50 years, Bernie White has grown potatoes in the rich, red, volcanic soil of Trentham, the traditional potato patch in Victoria, Australia. Now he doesn't know if his farm has a future.

Japan's potato chip shortage is rapidly developing into a crisis, with consumers rushing to stock up on what little is left in supermarkets and manufacturers struggling to find fresh supplies.

Alan Parker looked out onto the farm business he had spent his entire life establishing. The West Australian seed potato grower will know in the next six weeks whether his lifelong career will continue.

Potato Psyllids, a destructive plant pest found for the first time in Australia in February cannot be eradicated, so the industry will seek to manage it, rather than destroy it, according to The Department of Food and Agriculture of West Australia.

President Adam Barrow has lifted a ban on the import of onions and potatoes into the West-African country Gambia.

Cypriot potatoes becoming increasingly popular in Europe

The organizers of the Europatat 2017 Congress in Antwerp from 15 to 17 June announce the addition of a number of high level speakers to the programme

The potato production in India is estimated to be around 47 million tonnes for this crop year, just behind the all-time high witnessed in 2014.

The NEPG (North-Western European Potato Growers) estimates the potato acreage will grow by 3.6% compared to last season.

The National Potato Council (NPC) has sent a letter to President Trump with suggestions how the NAFTA agreement can be improved to benefit the potato trade.

The Potatoes USA international marketing committee met prior to the Annual Meeting in Denver March 15 & 16. The committee heard how U.S. potato exports have grown 183% in the past 20 years and now account for close to 20% of production.

Potato manufacturers in the Netherlands are approaching the 4 million tons of processed potatoes mark annually.

The Canadian Horticultural Council has received over $274,000 in Growing Forward 2 funding to help expand markets for Canadian potatoes.

Farmers in St Elizabeth, Jamaica, have increased cultivation of Irish potatoes more than four times over as the Government strives to meet the local demand of 15 million kilogrammes per year.