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F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 610 POTATO GROWER By John Toaspern International Marketing Vice President US Potato Board U.S. potato exports declined for the first time in fiscal 201415 but have rebounded strongly during the first five months July November of fiscal year 201516. Exports of frozen potato products are up 15 by volume and 11 in value while dehy exports have increased 19 by volume and 9 in value. Fresh pota- to exports both chip-stock table- stock are down 7 in volume and 9 in value due to continuing declines in exports to Canada. Seed potato exports have doubled from the same period last fiscal year. U.S. exports were hit with a triple play last marketing year as the dol- lar continued to appreciate making U.S. product up to 30 more expen- sive than that from our competitors. Further there was an extremely large crop in the EU that led to record production of frozen potato products available at very low prices. Finally the slowdowns at the U.S. West Coast ports starting in October 2014 and running through March 2015 meant only 50 of the normal volume of freight was leav- ing through these ports. The result was a 12 decline in the volume of U.S. exports of frozen products and a 15 decline to the United States Potato Boards USPBs target mar- kets. At the same time the EU enjoyed a 22 increase in total exports of frozen and a 51 increase in sales to the Boards target markets. Based on these factors USPB grow- er-leaders allocated an additional 300000 in funds from reserves to be used in the International Marketing program to regain these lost sales. The grower dollars have been leveraged with 400000 in Market Access Program MAP fund- ing from USDA. These funds have been utilized by the USPBs interna- tional representatives to carry out a wide array of activities in the mar- kets. In the Philippines the Board bought EU fries from importers and donat- ed them to orphanages if the importers would replace the product with purchases of U.S. fries. We also gave restaurants a free case of U.S. fries for every five cases of U.S. fries they purchased. In China the USPB launched a social media campaign in conjunction with restaurants that switched back to U.S. fries. In Malaysia the Boards rep went door to door meeting with restaurants to explain why they should buy U.S. based on the return on invest- ment messages developed from pre- vious research. For the many restau- rants that then did switch back the USPB conducted promotional activ- ities highlighting where people should go to get high quality U.S. USPB Message Back To Winning Ways