National Potato Stocks Down 23 Percent

Nationally, the 13 major potato States held 40.0 million cwt of potatoes in storage June 1, 2006, down 23 percent from last year and 13 percent below June 1, 2004, for comparable States. Ohio and Pennsylvania were dropped from the potato stocks program starting with the 2005 storage season.

Potatoes in storage account for 11 percent of the 2005 fall storage States' production, down 2 percentage points from last year. Potato disappearance, at 333 million cwt, is down 4 percent from last year for comparable States.

Season to date shrink and loss, at 24.7 million cwt, is down 23 percent from last year for comparale States. Processors in the nine major States have used 167 million cwt of potatoes this season, down 3 percent from a year ago and 4 percent below 2 years ago. Dehydrating usage accounts for 33.8 million cwt of the total processing down 12 percent from last year and 14 percent below the same date in 2004.

Potato stocks held by growers, dealers and processors in Idaho on June 1 totaled 17.5 million cwt, 6.50 million cwt less than on hand June 1, 2005, and down 27 percent from last year. Disappearance at 99.5 million cwt is down from last years 108 million cwt. Stocks in the 10 Southwest counties totaled 900,000 cwt, down from last year's revised 1.40 million cwt.

The Other counties' stocks at 16.6 million cwt were 6.0 million cwt less than the amount stored on June 1, 2005. Processors in Idaho and Malheur Count, OR, used 7.12 million cwt of 2005 crop raw potatoes during May, down 8 percent from last year.

For the 2005 crop, processors have used a total of 64.2 million cwt to June 1, down 2 percent from last year. Idaho potatoes accounted for 57.0 million cwt of the total processed. The remaining 7.23 million cwt were produced in other states.