U.S. potato exports have faced “a great deal of adversity” in the marketing year that started July 1, Potatoes USA said.
Spring 2020’s sharp decline in frozen product sales was followed by continued low demand in July-September, the marketing group reported.
As COVID-19 restrictions eased and markets adjusted, demand started to rebound in the fall.
Shipping issues then began to limit the ability of U.S. exporters to meet demand.
Potatoes USA said the lack of containers, port congestion, delayed and canceled shipments, and costs have increased in 2021. These factors limited exports — and resulted in shortages of frozen, dehydrated and fresh potatoes in many markets — despite the return of demand.
Importers have begun to ration the limited supplies, prioritizing large restaurant and retail chains and established accounts.
“The pervasive and underlying issue for Oregon and Northwest potato exports, and really most U.S. food and agricultural exports, are the shipping vessel challenges that we are facing,” Oregon Potato Commission Executive Director Gary Roth said.
Shipping containers arriving with import goods normally are unloaded and then sent to rural areas to be loaded with agricultural crops and products.
But recently, with lucrative freight rates on the imports combined with congestion and delays at U.S. ports, “these containers that have brought imported cargo are being sent back empty, and that has severely limited U.S. agricultural exports including potatoes,” he said.
“This issue has been going on for some time now,” Roth said. “It is approaching crisis proportions.”
Shipper consolidation is also a factor.
Oregon is a major potato producer. Roth said about 80% of the state’s potatoes go to frozen processing. About one-third of the frozen, processed product grown and produced in the Columbia River Basin of Oregon and Washington is exported.
“When you no longer have the ability to ship a product to a customer who wants it, that can only be bad news for everyone on the supply side,” he said.
Idaho Potato Commission International Marketing Director Ross Johnson said the commission agrees bottlenecks at ports across the world are causing exports to slow dramatically.
He said demand for the state’s potatoes is at an all-time high, “which makes the West Coast port situation even more frustrating.”
Mexico’s supreme court recently allowed the import of U.S. fresh potatoes. Previously they were allowed only in a small area near the border.
“We anticipate that with the recent decision in Mexico, along with port authority hopes for the situation to sort itself out, the future for export volumes should rebound very strongly as we head into our new crop,” Johnson said.
IPC marketing efforts set the stage for strong demand in fresh, frozen and dehydrated categories, he said, and “as we look ahead to the future, we anticipate growth numbers to look even more impressive than the decline numbers we have seen due to supply-chain constraints.”
Potatoes USA said exports of frozen potato products for July 2020-March 2021 were down 10%. Exports in March 2021 were up 13% from March 2020.
U.S. exports of dehydrated potatoes were down 3% for the year and up 19% in March compared to a year ago.
Exports of fresh potatoes — chipping and table-stock — were even for the year but up 32% in March compared to a year ago.
May 14, 2021 at 02:30AM
https://ift.tt/3bpcXis
Port bottlenecks pinch potato exports | Idaho | capitalpress.com - Capital Press
https://ift.tt/2rh4zOj
Potato
No comments:
Post a Comment