March 2023 Canadian Potatoes Holdings Report Shows Consolidation

On March 1, 2023, total Canadian potato storage holdings were 1.7% higher than in 2022 for the same time and almost 6% higher than the 3-year average.

In February 2023, 565,600 tons of potatoes were shipped from storage, down from last month's shipment levels, 11% less than in February 2022, but still 22% more than pre-Covid (2019) amounts.

“Shipments of Fresh potatoes were down in February for all provinces except PEI and NB which were on par with January numbers. PEI and Quebec showed an increased movement of potatoes in the processing sector in February over January, and Quebec and Alberta had a good movement of seed potatoes for the month compared to last. Most areas were commenting on slower sales in February, particularly in reds vs. yellows or russets, but are predicting good movement in March leading up to St Patrick’s Day,” according to the latest United Potato Growers of Canada (UPGC) report.

Fresh potato stocks are overall down 4% from last year. However, they are still significantly higher than in previous years due to increases in the initial harvest in the East of the nation and slower shipments in January and February, which were reported in many regions. In February, Canadian growers and packers transported 145,600 tons of fresh potatoes, up 3% from the three-year norm but down 300,000 sacs from January. (excluding potatoes that were included in PEI fresh shipments in February 2022 that were destroyed).

“Although some felt January was a slower month, shipments were lower in February than in January or December, however, most are expecting brisk movement ahead of St Patrick’s Day mid-March. There is some concern for the movement of red potatoes in certain areas of the country, particularly with a large crop in the Red River Valley and Florida coming to market a bit earlier than expected, however, most growers/packers are still confident that the crop will move and the value of the crop is still holding steady,” the same document reveals.

There were almost 386,400 tons of processing potatoes shipped in February 2023, although a decrease of close to 10% compared to January shipments, this is still the highest level of shipments for February ever, of course, influenced by the steadily increased acreage dedicated to processing potatoes in Canada, particularly in Manitoba and Alberta. The UPGC experts continue to see a tight market on processing potatoes, with most provinces showing a decrease when comparing 2022/23 and 2021/22 holdings in the same period, other than Alberta who are still showing increased holdings of processing potatoes which are not surprising due to the increase planted acreage and production this season.

“The 2.03m tons in storage as of March 1st is only 2.3% higher than March of last year and 10.1% higher than the 3-year average reflecting the continued increase in demand in the potato processing sector and therefore increased planted acres. There continues to be a very tight market across the continent in the processing sector and, despite having the largest increase in potatoes on hand in Alberta, it may still require Western Canada and the US to import potatoes to keep their expanded processing plants running at full capacity, as we have seen for the last few months out of the Atlantic region,” the UPGC report shows.

As of March 1, 2023, the total seed inventory in Canada is 532,000 tons, 7.2% above last year at this time and 9.8% over the 3-yr. average level, which is interesting compared to stock levels in February that were only 3-5% above historical levels, which would indicate that February 2023 movement isn’t quite as good as in previous years for the same month.

“Perhaps the tight seed market this year is causing growers to hold seed a little longer, or weather conditions in many areas are pushing out planting a bit later than usual as with the cold conditions in late February in BC. The disappearance of seed potatoes in February 2023 was 33,600 tons, up 44% from last month, however well below the same period in 2022, close to 35% lower. Although the overall seed crop did increase in 2023 over previous years, there is a tightness in seed availability across North America that is regional and varietal, with growth in processing demand outstripping the increased availability of a certain type of seed,” the UPGC experts concluded.