Weekly Potato Report
May 28, 2008
For Your Information
Please visit the Potato
Diseases website http://www.potatodiseases.org/news.html
for current information on heat stress, fusarium dry
rot and the late blight risk monitoring site. If you have any questions
or concerns please contact Willie Kirk at (517) 353-4481 or kirkw@msu.edu.
Dealers are paying $20.00 per cwt for open Florida chip potatoes this
week. Growers are filling all of their contract obligations, and have a few
potatoes available for the open market. A number of buyers were not fully
covered for their needs. The Florida chip harvest is advancing rapidly. It is
80-85% complete. Most growers will be done by June 10.
Remaining storage
potatoes are cleaning up rapidly. The last Michigan chip potatoes will ship
next week. Ontario growers have managed to sell all of their open chip
potatoes, even those with marginal quality. Ontario chip plants will continue
to run on local potatoes through the middle of June, but will have to depend
upon imports from then until the new crop is ready for harvest.
Chip potato supplies
could be extremely short during the next two weeks. Some harvest will start in
North Carolina next week, but the state's primary growing area will not have
potatoes until about June 10. Growers may sacrifice yields to start then.
Though the crop got off to an early start, cool weather has slowed development.
Crop losses in Arkansas and Missouri are such that it will be at least June 15
before the first potatoes are available there. Even then, production could fall
40% short of the 2007 crop. Chip buyers may show interest into diverting some
fresh potatoes to chipstock use.
Florida packers are
selling 2008-crop size A Round White potatoes for
mostly $14.05 per 50# carton, unchanged for the week.
Wisconsin shippers are
receiving mostly $10.00-$11.00 per 50# bale for non Size A
Russet potatoes, up from $7.50-$8.00 at this time last week. Wisconsin prices
for 60-70 count cartons are mostly $16.00-$18.00 per 50# box, up from
$12.50-$13.00 per box a week ago. The weighted average shipping point price for
Idaho Russet Burbanks climbed to $19.84 per cwt this
week, from $18.25 a week ago at this time.
This
weekly newsletter has more complete potato market information. For subscription
information call (208) 525-8397, fax (208) 525-8569, write PO Box 135, Shelley
ID 83274, or e-mail napmn@napmn.com.
This
Weekly Potato Report includes current Michigan grower issues, in depth market
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