Potato utilization dips 5% for 2019-20 marketing year

A near-double digit gain in potato retail sales wasn’t enough to offset a decline in foodservice sales during the 2019-20 marketing year.

Showing a 5% decline in the utilization of all potatoes, the domestic sales and U.S. potato utilization report for July 2019 to June 2020 marketing year was released by Potatoes USA in December.

“Despite the 9% increase in sales through retail, the decline occurred due to the 13% decrease in sales to the foodservice sector and 2% decrease in exports,” the report said. 

The utilization of the U.S. crop also was reduced slightly by a 7% increase in imports, according to the report.

The decline in utilization happened at the end of the marketing year in 2020, according to the report; sales to foodservice, retail, and exports, were all up for the July through December 2019 period. 

The long-term upward trend of increasing foodservice sales was halted by the COVID-19 pandemic in the marketing year 2020, according to the report. U.S. foodservice sales dropped from 58% of all potatoes in the marketing year 2019 to 53% in the marketing year 2020, according to the report.

For the marketing year, the report said retail sales were up 8.7%, an increase of 1.3 million pounds.

From a percentage perspective, frozen and dehydrated saw the largest growth, both with an increase of over 15%. Potato chips, the largest volume category at retail, increased by 5.5%, and fresh was up by 9.5% for the marketing year, according to the report.

“Within fresh sales, russets increased by 10%, yellows increased by 13%, and whites increased by 16%,” the report said. The only decline was for reds, which the report said were down 5% due to supply issues.

The impact of COVID-19 restrictions hurt potato use dine-in restaurants much more than quick service restaurants.

Frozen sales were only down 10% in the foodservice sector, while the report said fresh potato sales to foodservice were down by 19%.