Red potato prices battling against a variety of factors
Red potato prices battling against a variety of factors
For a variety of reasons, “prices are low” for Red River Valley red potato shippers, noted Ted Kreis, the marketing director of the Northern Plains Potato Growers Association.
“It just seems there are a lot of potatoes coming down from Canada. We have a large crop and the exchange rate is difficult, with a weak dollar,” Kreis said.
Canada’s potato export volumes “are way ahead of last year. Especially for the East Coast and Midwest states. These are our key markets.”
Despite the low prices, Red River Valley growers have no choice but to keep shipping in order to move a fairly large crop, he said. “I’ve seen worse but things could certainly improve.”
In a November interview, Kreis told The Produce News that the Northern Plains red potato crop is up 24 percent this season. The yield per acre in 2015 was 340 hundredweight. This shattered the region’s all-time yield record of 315 hundredweight that was set in 2014, he said.
This season yellow potato volume from the Red River Valley is double that of 2014 because of high yields and increased acreage. The yellow potato volume is only about 10 percent of Red River Valley reds.