A potato grower’s group says overall 2020 sales were down because of the coronavirus pandemic. The marketing year sales and utilization report from Potatoes USA shows retail potato sales jumped 9% or about 1.3 million pounds, but it was not enough to offset the 13% decrease in foodservice use and the 2% decrease in potato exports.
The report says foodservice potato sales peaked at 58% in the 2019 marketing year but dropped to 53% after the pandemic began. Frozen and dehydrated potato products had a nearly 9% jump in retail sales, with fresh potato sales up 9.5%. The report says the largest volume category is still potato chips, which also saw sales grow by 5.5%.
