Total Canadian Potato Storage Holdings on April 1, 2023, are up 3.1 percent over 2022 numbers for the same period.
They are well over the 3-year average for the month of April. Based on the disappearance figures, there were 11.6 million cwt of potatoes shipped from storage in March 2023, an increase over February shipments of 10.1 million cwt.
This is almost right on track with shipments of 11.7 in March of last year and 16 percent higher than the five-year average for March disappearance. In the Fresh sector, many benefitted from good demand in March leading up to St Patrick’s Day and Easter in early April, with shipments for the month up compared to February for all provinces except Ontario and Alberta.
Other than Quebec and Manitoba, all provinces showed increased movement of potatoes in the processing sector in March over February, and Quebec, Ontario and Alberta showed a large jump in shipments of seed potatoes for the month compared to last, not surprisingly as growers start to prepare for planting.
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See the attached PDF for a chart detailing the specifics of the report.