Total Canadian Potato Storage Holdings on February 1, 2024 totalled 74,031 million cwt which is up 8.2% over February 2023 and well above the five year average. Again this month, Quebec, PEI and New Brunswick are all showing lower stocks compared to the same month last year, The lower stocks in these provinces seem to be mostly due to good disappearance in January, however it is important to note there are reports of higher cull rates in the eastern provinces due to the wet growing season and harvest causing some issues in storage.
The higher stock levels seem to still be in the western provinces and mainly in the processing sector. Although Ontario, Alberta and BC did show higher stocks in the Fresh sector, in overall numbers fresh inventories are down just over 5%for the country and if the current rate of disappearance continues we estimate very little carryover in this sector, however it is still early in the season.
We are still keeping an eye on the high levels of processing potatoes, with some growers concerned a part of the pile may end up in the Fresh sector, however to date there continues to be movement from west to east to use up the surplus and balance out shortages in some of the eastern provinces. The seed sector also saw a decrease in overall stocks of 226,000 or 2.3%, with extra seed in Alberta, PEI and Ontario offset by reduced inventories in Quebec, Manitoba, New Brunswick and British Columbia.
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