While U.S. potato retail sales from April through June declined compared with the year-ago level, they beat sales levels for the same period in 2019.
According to figures from IRI and published by Potatoes USA, potatoes sales from April through June this year declined in dollars by 10.5% and in volume by 15.5% compared to the same time period in 2020.
Compared with 2019, sales increased in value and volume. Consumers spent $317 million more from April – June 2021 on potatoes than they did in 2019 and bought 53 million more pounds of potatoes, according to IRI.
The potato categories that performed best in 2020 showed the largest declines in 2021, IRI said.
Canned, dehydrated, fresh, and frozen potatoes all declined by double-digits in both dollars and volume, according to IRI.
Within the fresh potato category, medley potatoes maintained positive growth while the rest of the fresh types decreased in sales compared to 2020, according to Potatoes USA.
Russets and white potatoes saw the largest percentage decline in dollars and volume, according to the report.
Petite potatoes were almost even in dollars with a decline of just 0.1% and a slight decline in volume by 1.7%. An increase in micro-steamer and tray packaging shows consumers increased their pre-packaged purchasing compared to the same time period last year. Fresh potato sales are slightly below 2019 levels in volume but are above in dollar sales.
Fresh Potato Sales by Type April - June 2021
Total Dollar Sales and % Change vs year ago
- Russet $320,177,809 -23.8%
- Red $139,042,421 -21.1%
- Yellow $109,341,025 -12.0%
- White $39,304,942 -28.9%
- Petite $74,540,205 -0.1%
- Medley $20,403,410 3.5%
- Fingerling $3,624,951 -9.9%
- Purple $790,304 -2.8%
Source: IRI
