Posts Tagged “potato shipments”
There still will be a lot of potatoes for hauling this season which will extend into next summer despite the fall crop in the United States being down 5 percent compared to 2012.
Here’s a glimpse of the leading potato shipping states:
Idaho 132.9 million hundred weight (cwt)., down 6.3 percent; Washington 96 million, up less than 1 percent; Wisconsin 27.9 million, down 5.2 percent; Oregon 21.6 million, down 5.9 percent; Colorado 20.3 million, down 1.5 percent; Michigan 16.8 million, up 5.4 percent.
Idaho potatoes – grossing about $5400 to New York City.
Washington Potato Shipments
Year to date, loadings have been running a little ahead of schedule compared to recent years.
Most of this is due to early season shipments in July and August when potato supplies were very short across the country. Washington’s fresh producers account for 26,000 acres of the 160,000 acres of potatoes in the Evergreen State. About half of that total are russet potatoes, and the other half is a mix of reds, yellows, whites and other specialty potatoes.
Washington state, Columbia Basin potatoes – grossing about $4800 to Atlanta.
Red River Valley Potato Shipments
The North Dakota potato crop will come in at 22.6 million cwt. down about 10.1 percent from last year. Some folks were forecasting shipments to be down 25 to 30 percent at one point.
81,000 acres were planted in North Dakota compared to 88,000 last year, and harvested acres dipped from 84,000 last year to 78,000 this year.
Potato production in Minnesota dropped from 18.8 million cwt. in 2012 to 17.5 million this year, a drop of just under 7 percent. All but 2,000 of the 47,000 planted acres planted in Minnesota were harvested.
Red River Valley potatoes – grossing about $1900 to Chicago.
Record cranberry shipments could occur for the second year in a row, plus here is a review of recently completed seasonal shipments for potatoes and citrus.
There were record shipments of cranberries last year and a similar amount of the fruit is expected to be coming out of Wisconsin, Massachusetts and Washington state bogs this season. Only about 10 percent of the crop is shipped as fresh, while the remainder mostly is processed for juices and sauce.
One estimate has the cranberry crop at around 11.1 and 11.5 million barrels, similar to the 2012 production of 11.2 million barrels. That 2012 crop was a record. Most shipments occur mid-September through mid-November.
Historically, about 80 percent of a season’s crop is consumed in North America, and about 20 percent of the crop is consumed during Thanksgiving week.
Potato Shipments
USA potato shipments increased eight percent in 2012, but citrus production was down 4 percent.
About 463 million cwt. of potatoes was shipped in the U.S. in 2012, according to a USDA report released September 19.
Citrus Shipments
Citrus shipments dropped four percent last season, and totaled 11.2 million tons during 2012-13.
Florida accounted for 63 percent, and California 34 percent of all citrus shipped in the USA. Texas and Arizona made up the balance.
Florida’s orange shipments, at 134 million boxes, fell nine percent from the previous season. Bearing citrus acreage in Florida, at 489,600 acres, was 5,500 acres below the 2011-2012 season.
Looking around the nation, here are some upcoming loading opportunities ranging from Texas, to Idaho, Colorado, New York and South Florida.
New York’s nearly 700 apple growers are expected to harvest approximately 32 million bushels of vintage apples by November – a new record.
After last year’s short crop, there will be lots to celebrate this fall. A year ago, frost led to a crop of only 17.1 million bushels.
New York apple shipments of it top variety McIntosh is currently underway in the Eastern part of the state, and will soon be shipped from orchards statewide. Apple varieties ranging from Zestar, to Gala, and HoneyCrisp area and other varieties are being loaded from production areas across the state.
Hudson Valley New York apples – grossing about $2700 to Atlanta.
Texas Citrus Shipments
Rio Grande Valley Texas citrus shipments should get underway with a pretty normal start in early to mid-October this season.
About 75 percent of the Lone Star state’s citrus shipments will be with grapefruit, and 25 percent with oranges. Peak loadings typically occur between mid November and the first of the year.
Colorado Potato Shipments
Due to lack of water and poor markets there is a 10 percent reduction in acreage from last year in Colorado. Planted acreage is about 50,000 acres this year. Most shipments from the state originate in the San Luis Valley, although there is much smaller volume coming out of Northeastern Colorado.
San Luis Valley Potatoes – grossing about $1750 to Dallas.
Idaho Potato Shipments
While early season shipments of Idaho potatoes haven’t yielded any significant quality problems (just some small sized potatoes), the state had a lot hot weather during the growing season. It’s just something to keep an eye out for when loading, in case quality problems start developing.
Idaho Potatoes – grossing about $3000 to Chicago.
South Florida Imports
South Florida ports are receiving papyas from Central American for distribution throughout the USA. The heaviest arrivals occur between July and March from such countries as Belize and Guatemala. Don’t count on straight loads of the tropical fruit, but sometimes a few pallets can help you get where you need to go.
North Dakota potato shipments could be off 22.6 percent this season, according to the North American Potato Market News. If this holds 5.7 million less hundredweight than in 2012 will be loaded. Blame is being placed on a cold, wet spring. Hardest hit are red potatoes for the fresh market and chip crops, with the processing potatoes closer to normal. Total US potato loads also will be off from last season.
The Red River Valley potatoes from North Dakota and Minnesota is the fourth largest spud shipping region in the country.
If predictions hold, North Dakota harvest acres could be down nearly 11 percent from last year with the average yield dropping from 300 bags per acre in 2012 down to 260 this year.
In neighboring Minnesota, it is predicted there will be a 2.7 percent increase in potato shipments, sighting close to ideal weather conditions which should push the average yield up from 400 to 410 hundredweight per acre in the state.
Additonally the Market News sees a 5.4 percent drop in shipments of fall potatoes across the U.S. North Dakota and Nebraska will have by far the largest drops in shipments on a percentage basis at 22.6% and 18.2% respectively. However the largest drop in actual shipments will occur in Idaho potato shipments projections show a drop of 14.4 million cwt. compared to last year. Idaho easily leads the nation in potato shipments every year.
If all the state projections hold true, North Dakota would drop from 4th place down to 6th place in potato shipments in 2013-14 season, and only slightly ahead of Minnesota.
The USDA will have its fall potato projections out later this month.
Big Lake, MN red potatoes – grossing about $3300 to Atlanta.
Idaho potatoes – grossing about $5500 to New York City.
Potato shipments from the old season are rapidly coming to a close, which is probably best since quality problems are showing up in product coming out of storages. There are less late season spuds available and loading opportunities are going to be relatively scarace until the new crop gets going.
You are seeing the results in high potato prices at your local supermarket.
The USDA reports US potato shipments for the weeks ending July 27 and Aug. 3 were down 15% and 24%, respectively, compared to the same weeks in 2012.
Shipments for new crops of potatoes have just started from Wisconsin, Colorado and Nebraska.
Even with the new crop of potatoes, some problems are already being reported. For example, diggings in Rupert, Idaho, began August 6, and growers are experiencing some skinning problems. That means a potential for potato haulers facing claims or rejected loads.
Shipments from Idaho are not expected to be significant until late August.
Texas is shipping some russets shipments and Washington state began in late July with light volume.
After this past season’s disaster with low prices on a huge crop, Idaho growers planted fewer acres and the new season is expected to be more normal in terms of volume.
Volume of old crop shipments from Idaho and Washington-Oregon have been higher in late July and early August than the previous season. However, shipments from Colorado this season were off by as much as a third.
Red potato shipments from the Big Lake area of Minnesota have started within the past week. In the Red River Valley of North Dakota and Minnesota, it will be late September or early October before decent shipments occur with red potatoes.
Idaho potatoes – grossing about $5300 to New York City.
The last potatoes of the shipping season, which have been held in storages for months, may have quality problems which could result in rejected loads or claims. The good news is there are very few russetts left in major shipping states such as Idaho.
What started out as a huge crop last fall, has faded quickly since spring. Packouts have been off due to quality problems and some spuds have even been used a cattle feed.
There is light volume with the new crop of red and yellow potatoes out of Washington and Oregon with shipments picking up the week of July 22. Russet loadings should get going between July 22 and Aug. 1.
Overall potato shipments are going to be very light around the country until about the second week of August, as the new crop starts gaining steam.
Blueberries
Big volumes of blueberries are seen from Oregon and British Columbia in July and August — and likely even into September. There have been few complaints regarding size, or taste, which means fewer problems for drivers at unloading docks.
Grapes
In California, record shipments of table grapes are still being seen for this season. Another forecast will be issued in late July.
Last year California topped 100 million boxes of grapes shipped for the first time. This season observers are looking at shipments hitting nearly 107 million, 19-pound cartons. Hang on sloopy, that’s a lot of fruit! Grape loadings are taking place from the Arvin district.
Over half of California’s grapes will be shipped after Labor Day and extending into December, a trend that has come as newer, late variety grapes have been developed.
San Joaquin Valley grapes and stone fruit – grossing about $8,000 to New York City.