U.S. Potato Stocks Decline

WASHINGTON - Jun 14/06 - SNS -- The 13 major potato States held 40.0 million cwt of potatoes in storage June 1, 2006, down 23% from last year and 13% below June 1, 2004, for comparable States, according to the USDA.

Ohio and Pennsylvania were dropped from the potato stocks program starting with the 2005 storage season. Potatoes in storage account for 11% of the 2005 fall storage States' production, down 2 percentage points from last year.

Disappearance of 333 million cwt from the start of harvest to June 1, is down 4% from last year for comparable States. Shrink and loss, at 24.7 million cwt, is down 23% from last year for comparable States.

Processors have used 167 million cwt of 2005 crop potatoes so far this season, down 3% from a year ago and 4% below 2 years ago. Idaho and Malheur County, Oregon, total processing decreased 2% from a year ago and Washington and the rest of Oregon total processing dropped 3% from last season. Dehydrating usage accounts for 33.8 million cwt of the total processing, down 12% from last year and 14% below the same date in 2004.

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