US potatoes used for processed totaled 280 million cwt, down 5% from 2014, when the figures reached 293 million cwt, according to the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) report on potato, released in September 2016.
Potatoes used for chips and shoestrings totaled 58.1 million cwt in 2015, down 21% from the previous year. Frozen french fries and other frozen products utilized 166 million cwt of raw potatoes, up 2% from 2014. Potatoes used for dehydrating totaled 47.9 million cwt, down 2% from 2014. Canning use, at 1.21 million cwt, is down 9% from the previous year. Other products made from potatoes totaled 6.38 million cwt of potatoes, an 8% decrease from 20.
Potato production in 2015 is revised to 441 million cwt, up slightly from the estimate in the January Crop Production 2015 Summary but below the 2014 crop. Harvested area, at 1.05 million acres, is up slightly from 2014. The average yield of 418 cwt per acre is down 3 cwt from the previous year.
The value of all potatoes sold in 2015, at USD3.60bn, decreased 2% from the previous year. The average price, at USD8.76 per cwt, is down USD0.12 from 2014. The quantity of potatoes sold from the 2015 crop totaled 410 million cwt, down slightly from 2014. Quantity sold account for 93% of 2015 production, unchanged from the previous year.
