US: High potato harvest causes prices to fall

US potato growers grew nearly 20 million tonnes of the crop in 2023, a 9% increase from last year and the first time since 2017 that production of America's most consumed vegetable increased. The surplus of potatoes has increased supply and lowered prices for food suppliers. Gro's Commodities Tracker, which forecasts six-month supply risk for crops in the world's major growing areas, shows that the US is at a "low" supply risk level for potatoes, meaning the commodity is well supplied and the price is expected to will not increase significantly. Meanwhile, average potato prices have fallen sharply since July and are currently more than 50% lower than a year earlier, as shown in the Commodities Tracker. Now that prices are lower, discounts have returned in supermarkets on frozen chips, which have been largely absent during the Covid pandemic. And a major fast food chain is offering "Free Fries on Fridays" until the end of the year. Reason for the potato glut: Growers in Idaho, ...