Potatoes USA has released IRI data for the calendar year 2019 (January through December 2019) that showed success with dollars and volume sales for total potato sales at retail. Total dollar sales increased by 2.2% and volume increased by 0.4%. Potato chips, frozen potatoes, refrigerated potatoes, and dehydrated potatoes increased in sales volume. Refrigerated potatoes saw a 7.0% lift in dollar sales and a 4.6% lift in volume sales, the largest for any category. Canned potatoes and deli-prepared sides declined in sales volume. Deli-prepared sides declined in both dollar sales by 2.5% and volume sales by 3.1%.
Fresh potato sales increased in dollar sales by 1.5%. Volume sales for fresh potatoes declined by 1.0% during 2019 compared to 2018.
Russet and red potatoes were the main driver in the decline in fresh potato sales volume. Russet sales volume fell by 2.1%, and red potato sales volume declined by 9.7%. Yellow, white, and medley fresh potatoes saw an increase in both dollar and volume sales. Medley volume is up 17.7%.
Interestingly, sales of ten-pound bags of fresh potatoes decreased 7.7% in volume, while packages over ten pounds increased 28.7%. Digging deeper into package types shows that single-wrapped, micro/steamer and multi-wrapped fresh potatoes in 2019 were markedly off from 2018 in dollars and volume.
Contact retail@potatoesusa.com with questions or for regional information.
Potatoes USA accepts no liability for the content of these reports, or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of any information contained herein.
