U.S. Potato Exports Hit New Records in Both Value and Volume

This last marketing year which ended in June was a record export year for U.S. potatoes. The value of all U.S. potatoes was $1.76 billion and 1.64 million metric tons of potatoes were exported.This new record is a 7 percent increase over last Marketing year’s previous record. United States Potato Board Chief Marketing Officer John Toaspern shares
Toaspern: “With exports now equivalent to a solid 18 percent of U.S. potato production — that is a significant outlet and market for the U.S. producers, so everyone should be pleased at the direction those figures are going.”
He explains that there are three important factors that have gone into the success of the U.S. potato export market.
Toaspern: “There are three main areas that have contributed to this. First is increased market access. That increased access that ability to reach new consumers obviously creates new net sales. Second factor is market development and also creating new demand so we want to introduce potatoes into new areas and new uses, and new sectors in these markets and that creates demand as well. And the third factor is market participation — those are what has created these record export levels.”