News and Stories

Reports from Idaho potato growers indicate that harvests will be finished by the end of this week due to ideal conditions. As a result of the early completion, growers are beginning to fill their storage sheds earlier than normal. Growers will have more control of supply levels soon; they will hold back shipments to push prices above the low levels seen over the past few weeks. Demand is expected to exceed supply over the next few weeks. During this time, Markon requests that members place orders three to five days earlier than their normal patterns to ensure order fulfillment.

As is normal this time each year, the Thanksgiving pull will begin early November and carton prices will start decreasing as more raw product will be needed to run orders for retail bags. The byproduct of producing retail bags is larger sizes are packed into cartons, e.g. creating a supply exceeds demand situation for foodservice cartons.

• Large-size potatoes (40- through 70-count supplies) dominate the crop
• Small-size stocks (90- through 100-count potatoes) are limited
• The majority of fresh-run potatoes are meeting grade No. 1 specifications, limiting U.S. No. 2 production
• No. 2 supplies will increase over the next several weeks (once potatoes are shipped out of storage)
• Markon First Crop (MFC) Norkotah Potatoes are available
• MFC Burbank Potatoes will begin shipping in late October/early November once they complete the sweat process

Please contact your Markon customer service representative for more information.

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