Potatoes USA Evaluates Effects of Coronavirus

The 2020 annual meeting of Potatoes USA took place despite the ongoing coronavirus epidemic. While some board members chose not to make the trip for the March 11-13 meeting, the event was broadcast over the web.

According to thepacker.com, some potato marketers said that sales of dehydrated potato flakes have increased, while foodservice fresh and frozen sales have dropped. Most said they don’t expect long-term changes in consumer habits.

The “anxiety economy” existed before both the coronavirus and the escalation of the 2020 presidential race, said John Toaspern, chief marketing officer for Potatoes USA. “People are nervous; they aren’t really sure what to do,” he said.

In the end, Toaspern said the coronavirus will eventually give way to long-term trends. As people look for a “silver bullet” way to eat, Toaspern believes that diet preferences such as paleo, keto, sugar-free, functional foods, and vegan may persist.

Promoting the value of potatoes as a performance food is a message that resonates with consumers and predictions are that food waste and sustainability will be hot topics for consumers in the coming years. Despite the current alarm about gathering in public places related to coronavirus, Toaspern said the long-term trend for consumers is to eat out more.

“The shift to away-from-home eating continues to occur,” he pointed out, noting that the 2020 estimate for total foodservice sales growth is 3.9%. “That forecast was certainly made before COVID-19 occurred but I still think we will see growth once you factor in all aspects,” he said.

Home delivery of restaurant food counts as foodservice sales, and that is certainly booming now with the current fear of coronavirus.

“People might be scared to go out and eat but they are happy to have food brought to them,” he said. In 2019, foodservice delivery grew 59%, and accounted for 38% of foodservice sales. Looking back, 2019 was a brighter year for the industry, with total U.S. potato consumption up 37.01 bn pounds, a 3.3% increase compared to 2018, Toaspern said.

Retail potato (all forms) consumption totaled 14.8bn pounds, up 0.7% for the year. Foodservice utilization totaled 20.59m cwt., which was up 1.2% compared to 2018. Exports of 7.58bn were up 8.8% compared to 2018, while U.S. potato imports of 5.97bn pounds were down 3.4%.

“The 3% increase in year-over-year utilization is the best number we’ve ever had since we started doing this,” Toaspern highlighted.

Utilization by type of potato in 2019 totaled 41% frozen, 25% fresh, 21% chips, 8% dehydrated and 4% refrigerated. For fresh potatoes, Toaspern said retail sales account for 52% of the total fresh sales, and foodservice accounted for the rest.

Retail fresh potato sales totaled 4.58 bn pounds in 2019, down 1% from 2018. At foodservice, statistics for 2019 show fresh sales were 4.29 bn pounds, down 1.8% from 2018.

Sales gains were noted at retail for chips, dehydrated and refrigerated potatoes. In the foodservice sector, Toaspern said that frozen and refrigerated potato sales increased in 2019, while decreases were noted for chips and dehydrated potatoes.