b'Potato Sales Strong In Marketing Year 2020/21 John Toaspern,Chief Marketing Officer, Potatoes USAThemarketingyearthatendedinestimatedfoodservicesalesfrom June 2021 was unlike any year theTechnomics, and import and export potatoindustryhaseverexperi- data to provide additional clarity of enced.StartinginJuly2020,pan- domestically produced potatoes.demic restrictions were in full force, which led to greatly reduced sales atTheresultsshowedanoverall foodservice, and in turn, reductionsdeclineofU.S.potatouseforthe incontractacreagebythefrozenJuly2020June2021marketing processors.Retailpurchasesyear. To be more specific, there was remained extremely strong, thougha6%decreaseinthefreshweight after the initial wave of panic buy- equivalentvolume.Thisdecrease ingwasover,shelveswereoncewas due to an 8% decline in sales to again relatively full. foodservice and the leveling of retail sales from the peak panic buying at A US PotatoesAs the year progressed, restrictionsthe end of the previous marketing startedtolift,particularlyintheyear.Thisyearstightsuppliesof springof2021asvaccinationsU.S.potatoes,particularlyfrozen became fully available. At this time,products, were made up for with a Foodservicedemandbeganto12% increase in total imports.Messagereturn,especiallyatquick-service restaurantsandothertakeoutandDespitetheuncertaintiesinthe deliveryformats.Retailsalesinternationalmarketsandthe remained well above 2019 but wereextreme problems with internation-not at the extremes of the March alshipping,U.S.potatoexports June 2020 timeframe.increased by 4% for the marketing year. The rebound in exports was led To help the industry understand theby a 9% increase in fresh potatoes, a demand for domestically produced10% increase in potato chips, and a potatoes and better understand the2%increaseinfrozenexports, salesinthedomesticmarket,whichaccountedfor51%ofthe PotatoesUSAconductsanannualtotal.The only product to decline salesandutilizationstudy.Thiswas dehydrated potatoes, down by studyutilizesretaildatafromIRI,4%.6 POTATO GROWER NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021'