Potato prices are rising as last year’s crop finishes from storage and the new crop gets higher volume into the pipeline. The summer is a contrast to 10 weeks ago when the potato market was reeling from the effects of the pandemic, which saw foodservice demand drop and prices cut in half from March to May, according to a report published by Blue Book Services.
Compared to the last two years, the volume for this period is very similar, said Raul Lopez, agronomist and vice president of Agtools Inc.
Blue Book has teamed with Agtools Inc., the data analytic service for the produce industry, to look at a handful of crops and how they’re adjusting in the market during the pandemic.
With ups and downs, the total volume continues in the annual range of 2.2 billion pounds. There is a slight decrease in volume this year in the second half of July. It seems that this market has recovered after the lockdown.
The F.O.B. price in the last 90 days has been increasing, Lopez said. In early May the price was lower than the 2 previous years. The lowest price was below $10. In the second half of May, it increased to $14 and remained steady until the first week of July that started an upward trend, reaching $20. It seems that this trend has not stopped yet, he said.
Source: Blue Book Services. Read the full report here
Photo: Blue Book Services
