U.S. potato exports increased 4.6 percent by volume for marketing year 2017 (July 2016 through June 2017) and 3.8 percent by value to a record $1,758,130,172.
The fresh weight equivalent (FWE) of the exports was 3,258,520 metric tons or 72 million hundredweight, which is very close to 20 percent of domestic production for the year. The increase in exports was led by the frozen category (up 3.5 percent), fresh (up 9.4 percent), chips (up 5.3 percent) and seed (up 96 percent). The only product to record a decline was dehy—off 9.7 percent—which is a lesser decline than the double-digit losses recorded in the first part of the year.
Frozen is still the dominant export product, with 54 percent of the total on a FWE basis, followed by dehy at 24 percent and fresh at 15 percent. The Asia-Pacific region is still the largest at 919,365 metric tons, followed by the Americas at 726,739 metric tons.
For complete details on U.S. exports see the attached spreadsheet or go to the Potatoes USA Global Database.
Source: Potatoes USA