Canada's export of potato products down 11% in first quarter

Canada exported 14.0 million cwt of potatoes and potato products during the January-March quarter. According to the editor of North American Potato Market News (NAPMN), Bruce Huffaker, that fell 1.7 million cwt short of the 2009 pace, a 10.7% decline.

The US took 93.2% of the Canadian fresh potato exports. That is down from a 96.3% the previous year, Mr Huffaker said in the latest issue of NAPMN. Only two other markets took more than 40,000 cwt of potatoes during the quarter - Venezuela and Indonesia.

Canada’s frozen potato product exports fell 75 million lbs short of the 2009 pace. The 13.9% decline in sales goes a long way toward explaining the contract volume reductions being implemented in Canada for the 2010 crop, according to Mr Huffaker.

Seed potato exports from Canada exceeded the 2009 pace, though. The increase was driven by a 23.6% increase in sales to the US. The surge in seed exports may have more to do with timing than with the total volume of seed sold this year, Mr Huffaker said.