The chip, frozen and other potato-processing businesses continue to touch the fresh industry, but that touch might be a bit stronger this year, marketers say.
“We have all heard of the news in the U.S.,” said Ross Johnson, international marketing director with the Eagle-based Idaho Potato Commission.
He noted the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently reported that, overall, the U.S. potato crop will be down 6%, compared to a year earlier.
“We also heard Canada suffered some difficulty, and we anticipate this will put some pressure on the supply of potatoes throughout the Americas,” Johnson said.
Whatever pressure occurs will come from the frozen side, said Rachel Atkinson-Leach, category and brand manager with the Bancroft, Wis.-based Russet Potato Exchange (RPE) Inc.
“The chip industry isn’t having much of an effect on the open market, because the varieties grown for chips do not work for the fresh industry,” Atkinson-Leach said.
