The 13 major potato states held 172 million cwt of potatoes in storage March 1, up 8 percent from last year and 10 percent above the same date in 2006.
The National Agricultural Statistics Service says potatoes in storage accounted for 43 percent of the 2007 fall storage states' production, up two percentage points from last year.
Klamath Basin stocks totaled 2.05 million cwt on March 1, down 7 percent from last year. Klamath Basin includes California and Klamath County, Oregon potato stocks.
Potato disappearance, at 228 million cwt, was down 1 percent from last year but up 4 percent from 2006. Season to date shrink and loss, at 19.7 million cwt, was down 3 percent from the same date in 2007 but 7 percent above 2006.
NASS says processors in the nine major states have used 123 million cwt of potatoes this season, down 3 percent from the same time last year but 8 percent above two years ago.
Dehydrating usage accounted for 25.2 million cwt of the total processing, down 10 percent from last year but 11 percent above the same date in 2006.