“Exports are huge in the potato industry,” said Frank Muir, president of the Idaho Potato Commission, in a presentation made to the membership of the Idaho Grower Shipper Association in Sun Valley, ID, Aug. 29. “Total U.S. fresh potato exports are now 900 million pounds, and growing at a rate of 17 percent, and we have been part of that.”

Currently, the commission’s international market development activities are focused on Latin America — specifically Mexico, Columbia, Panama and Brazil — as well as in Asia, where “we have representation and distribution in Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau,” he said.

Traci Hiebert“We also recognize that there are new markets being opened up regularly, fuelled really by the free trade agreements that are being made and also by the hard work of the National Potato Council and U.S. Potato Growers. We are working very closely with them, to go right behind them into these countries as they have opened up the countries for fresh potatoes” from the United States.

In its international programs, the commission participates in such activities as trade shows, trade missions and reverse trade missions, as well as “community events, retail training, cooking classes, promotions and chef competitions just like we do here in the U.S.,” he said. In new markets, “we are opening up representative offices, working with local folks there who know the market, and we are creating brand awareness.”

The Idaho brand is already widely recognized around the world, Muir noted. “In all the countries I have been in, as soon as I say ‘Idaho,’ they say ‘potatoes” and always with a smile.”

Seth Pemsler, IPC’s vice president of retail and international, and Traci Hiebert, who was recently hired as international marketing director, talked with The Produce News about the commission’s international programs.

“We have now been doing international, and doing it fairly aggressively, for the last nine years,” said Pemsler. “We started with Mexico,” where fresh U.S. potatoes are allowed into the country in a 26-mile wide zone along the border with the United States, “then we leveraged that to Central America,” he said.

“From Central America, we started looking at Asia, specifically Hong Kong and Macau and we have had some successes there,” Pemsler continued. “From there, we moved into Southeast Asia, focusing on Malaysia and Singapore, and had some huge successes there” over the last three or four years.

Since then, “a lot of new markets have opened up,” he said. “That has taken us into some new areas beginning this year” and expanding in future years.

Since in Mexico fresh potatoes can only go into the border zone, “I still consider Mexico an emerging market,” Hiebert said. “There are always rumors, and they continue to get stronger,” that the rest of Mexico may soon open up. Meanwhile, getting programs into some of the larger retail chains such as Walmart and Soriana that have stores along the border will make it easier “to translate the Idaho potato brand into the central area of Mexico” when the rest of the country does open up.

Brazil is an interesting case. It has been open for potato seed stock from the United States, but seemed not to be for table stock, Hiebert said. However, on closer examination it appears that “it is open for table stock, so we are doing research on that” and trying to determine what kinds of certifications would be needed.” With the World Cup scheduled to be held in Brazil in 2014 and the Summer Olympics in 2016, “there is the assumption that foodservice wants to see a big Idaho baked potato on the menu for a lot of the tourists.” That could be a good opportunity, but it is still in the exploration stage.

In Asia, Idaho has been selling fresh potatoes to Hong Kong and Macau for the last seven years, said Pemsler. “There is still opportunity there. We haven’t really penetrated the market the way we would like to.“ Doing so will involve “making some initial investments, working with chefs, doing chef training, things like that,” for which resources have not been previously allocated.

“The Philippines is a brand new market for us,” said Hiebert. “It just opened up to fresh potatoes. That is one that we will be looking at” to determine if the commission wants to go there with programs in a big way for 2014-15.

The Vietnamese market has also opened to U.S. potatoes, and loads are now being shipped, Pemsler said. So far, Idaho has “not directly participated.”

The commission’s strategy has always been “to utilize the U.S. Potato Board, as everyone in the U.S. does, to open a market. Then we follow behind. We see if they can get U.S. potatoes established, and we go in and try to convert appropriate accounts to Idaho.”

The U.S. Potato Board just began its marketing missions into Vietnam last year and is having some success, “so it is a logical time for us to follow,” he said.

The same is true in The Philippines, where the U.S. Potato Board is doing its “first exploratory mission next month,” he said. “We sit back and let the USPB do the real exploratory, then we follow behind.”

The goal of the commission’s activities, said Hiebert, is “to increase volume internationally.” That may involve working to build volume in countries that are already good markets for Idaho potatoes as well as taking time “exploring and really doing our due diligence” in newly opened countries such as the Philippines.

Not all newly opened markets are deemed worth the investment. Russia, for example, appeared to be “a huge opportunity, until you get there and find out how difficult it is going to be,” logistically, to get the potatoes there, even though they can be legally shipped, said Pemsler. The market is “huge,” but because of the difficulties involved, “we are not going to invest any resources in Russia.