According to the latest numbers provided by potatoes USA, the total volume of potatoes sold at retail in the United States was down 3.2% in June 2018 compared to June 2017, though the value did increase 1.1% with a 4.8% increase in price per pound.
The overall decline in sales was driven by a 5.9% fall in fresh potato volume, an 11.4% decrease in deli prepared sides, a 1% drop for potato chips and a 3.6% decline for canned potatoes.
On the positive side, the volume of frozen sales was up 2.6%, refrigerated up 2% and dehydrated potatoes up 0.9%.
For fresh potato sales, all varieties saw increased volume in June except russets which were off by 10.9% though russets did see an 11.4% increase in price per pound which led to sales value down less than 1%.
Yellow volume was up 7.8%, whites up 3.8%, purple/blues up 39.5% and reds up 1.5%.
The volume of fresh potatoes sold in 1-4-pound bags were up 5.2% while all other package sizes declined, with 10-pound bags and over 10-pound bags recording the biggest drops with declines of 15.4% and 12.7% respectively.
