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SPUDSMART.COM SUMMER 201548 Potato stocks are up considerably in Canada from last year largely due to the large number of fresh potatoes remaining in storage in Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick. KEVIN MACISAAC The fresh side is way up. Its up 70 per cent compared to a year ago. CANADAS POTATO storage holdings as of June 1 were up almost eight per cent or slightly more than 1.3 million hundredweight from the year before according to figures from the United Potato Growers of Canada. In Eastern Canada the year-to-year increase was almost 22 per cent mainly due to substantial increases in storage holdings in Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick. Western Canada actually saw a decline in yearto-year storage holdings of just over 10 per cent. Kevin MacIsaac UPGC general manager says the big issue lies in the number of fresh potatoes in storage. The fresh side is way up he says. Its up 70 per cent compared to a year ago. So thats about another million and a quarter hundredweight that has to go through the fresh channels before the crop finishes. According to MacIsaac the biggest table stock surpluses are in P.E.I. and New Brunswick. Provinces in the West are actually running out he says and Ontario and Quebec are about where they should be. So those extra fresh potatoes are on the East Coast. What it means is that some of those potatoes arent going to get packed MacIsaac adds indicat- ing that much of this unpacked stock could end up as cattle feed. One positive thing is that the planting season is quite late in the East he says which will give growers more time to clean up as much of the old crop as they can before the new crop comes in. Certainly last year was a season when the packers would have liked to pack a little longer because they ran out early. This year is just the opposite theyre going to have to run quite late in order to try to get them all through. ITS A DIFFERENT picture when it comes to seed potatoes in storage according to MacIsaac. In 2014 there was excess seed available and some of that eventually had to be moved into other channels. This year its quite the opposite he says with the result that supply has matched up nicely with demand. We have 63 per cent less seed than we had a year ago so thats good. On the processing side storage holdings were pretty much on pace with the previous year with just a five per cent increase from June 1 2014 to June 1 2015 MacIsaac says. Most of those excess processing potatoes are again in the East he adds. Theyre not all contracted so I dont know where some of those opens will end up going. SOUTH OF THE border the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that the 13 states that report potato stocks had 56.5 million hundredweight of potatoes in storage on June 1. That exceeded year-earlier holdings by 9.6 million hundredweight a 20.5 per cent increase. The June 1 potato stocks were at their highest level since 2001. Stocks increases were widespread though 75 per cent of the extra potatoes were located in Idaho and Wisconsin. Bruce Huffaker of the North American Canadian Potato Storage Holdings 000 cwt JUNE 1 HOLDINGS 2015 CROP JUNE 1 HOLDINGS 2014 CROP PROVINCE FRESH PROCESS SEED TOTAL FRESH PROCESS SEED TOTAL 2014-15 CHANGE Prince Edward Island 726 5862 155 6743 149 4787 45 4981 35.4 New Brunswick 698 1988 21 2707 134 1373 668 2175 24.5 Quebec 1101 575 39 1715 1004 804 4 1812 -5.4 Ontario 111 578 15 704 153 638 0 791 -11.0 Eastern Canada 2636 9003 230 11869 1440 7602 717 9759 21.6 Manitoba 266 3184 0 3450 247 3987 100 4334 -20.4 Saskatchewan NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA Alberta 41 3108 94 3243 43 2972 109 3124 3.8 British Columbia 0 0 16 16 1 0 13 14 14.3 Western Canada 307 6292 110 6709 291 6959 222 7472 -10.2 Total Canada 2943 15295 340 18578 1731 14561 939 17231 7.8 SOURCE UNITED POTATO GROWERS OF CANADA. Potato Market News says while this suggests that the industry is sitting on a massive surplus much of this years increase may reflect undercounting in past years rather than a large overhang on the current market. THE NAPMN reported that most 2015 fry potato contracts had been settled by early May with U.S. prices mostly unchanged to down 1.5 per cent. Indications were that contract volumes were down somewhat in Idaho and Wisconsin from 2014 while Columbia Basin volume was up slightly up from last year. The NAPMN reported that other U.S. growing areas were expecting volumes to be similar to 2014. THE USDA reports that growers planted 955300 acres to fall potatoes in 2015. That exceeds the 2014 planted area by 18400 acres a two per cent increase. The USDA is also reporting that U.S. growers planted fewer summer potatoes this year than last. A total of 49300 acres have been planted to summer potatoes which is 1100 fewer acres or a 2.2 per cent reduction from 2014. MARKETNEWS