U.S. Potato Stocks Decline

WASHINGTON - May 15/07 - SNS -- Potato stocks in the 13 major potato States totalled 73.2 million cwt (100 pound units) on May 1, down 4% from last year and 17% below May 1, 2005, for comparable States.

Ohio and Pennsylvania were dropped from the potato stocks program starting with the 2005 storage season. Potatoes in storage account for 19% of the 2006 fall storage States' production, down 1 percentage point from last year.

Disappearance of 309 million cwt from the start of harvest to May 1, is up 4% from last year. Shrink and loss, at 23.7 million cwt, is up 8% from the previous year.

Processors have used 162 million cwt of 2006 crop potatoes so far this season, up 8% from a year ago and 5% below 2 years ago. Idaho and Malheur County, Oregon total processing increased 8% from a year ago, Maine's total processing was 8% above the same date in 2006, and Washington and the rest of Oregon total processing was up 2% from last season. Dehydrating usage accounts for 34.6 million cwt of the total processing, up 15% from last year and 3% above the same date in 2005.

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