Potato Stocks Down on Year

WASHINGTON - Jan 17/06 - SNS -- Potato stocks are down 7% in the United States, with the USDA pegging January 1 inventories at 219 million cwt (100 pound units) in the 13 major producing states.

In releasing the data, the USDA noted Ohio and Pennsylvania were dropped from the potato stocks program starting with the 2005 storage season.

Potatoes in storage account for 59% of the 2005 fall storage States' production, unchanged from last year. Stocks by type were 2% red, 10% round white, 2% long white (Shepody), and 86% russets, with a smaller percentage of reds and long whites but a larger percentage of russets than a year ago for comparable States.

Disappearance of 154 million cwt from the start of harvest to January 1, is down 7% from last year for comparable States. Shrink and loss, at 16.2 million cwt, is down 14% from last year for comparable States.

Processors have used 81.7 million cwt of 2005 crop potatoes so far this season, down 5% from a year ago and 7% below 2 years ago. Both Idaho and Malheur County, Oregon, and Washington and the rest of Oregon total processing dropped 6% from last season. Dehydrating usage accounts for 16.0 million cwt of the total processing, down 14% from last year and 13% below the same date in 2004.

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