The challenges of the U.S. economy are starting to impact the potato industry.
The Idaho Potato Commission says that as consumers wrestle with rising housing, car, and utility payments, food choices are now being impacted, too.
According to their Executive Director, Jamey Highman, “Fast food is always, you know, it’s always been a little cheaper, and people can go to that, or when eating out at fast food or restaurants is expensive, they always have the option to shop at the grocery store and make their own meals. But everything’s a little expensive right now, and so it’s hard to get a really good gauge of what’s going on out there, and it depends on the demographic and the where you’re at in the country, but we can see through our numbers that the people are struggling right now.”
While domestic demand is down, international exports have declined as well.
In the past year, U.S. potato exports have fallen 4% to 2.3 million metric tons. With trade negotiations taking place across the globe, thanks to tariffs, the commission says that the impact on trade has yet to be fully realized.
“On the frozen side, I think it’s a little early still to know exactly what the ramifications are. The fresh, we haven’t been affected much,” he notes. “The places where we, in Idaho, ship fresh which is number one is Mexico, and then we have some in southeast Asia and a little bit north. But right now, that hasn’t been affected at all, really, with tariffs, but who knows what’s coming down the road.”
The small drop in exports seen so far this year have been primarily driven by decreases in dehydrated potato exports.
