Retail sales of table potatoes and potato products in the US continue to be good. The unprecedented peak in supermarket sales of March 2020 was not matched last quarter, but sales remain above that of the pre-corona era.
Panic buying in March 2020 was followed by a year of record potato sales in US supermarkets, both in dollars and volume. Potato sales in the third quarter (January to March 2021) in the US fell compared to the same quarter a year earlier.
Exceptional month
Turnover fell by 0,5% and volume fell by 3,6%, according to figures from market research agency Information Resources Inc. (IRI). In January and February 2021, sales were above those of a year earlier. There was a decline in March - which could hardly have been otherwise after that crazy month a year earlier when mainly long-life potato products flew over the counter.
Sales of frozen and chilled potato products in the third quarter of this season remained the same as last season. Turnover in table potatoes fell by 3,5% last quarter compared to the same period a year earlier. Sales remain well above the level of the period January to March 2019, before the outbreak of the coronavirus.
The question remains
A lot has changed in the past year, according to the American grower organization Potatoes USA, but the market has stabilized in a more predictable way. Consumer behavior in the US appears to have changed permanently. According to Potatoes USA, the latest figures show that consumer demand for potatoes for home use is still strong and will remain strong.