Washington's potato growers are having a hard time this season getting good returns for their products. The market was unusually flat through the Thanksgiving holiday, and shippers are hoping for a rebound this Christmas.
“Christmas business still hasn't kicked in,” said Larry Sieg of Potandon Produce in Pasco, Washington. “There's still a lot of product out there and the market is still flat.” He pointed to over-capacity in the packing sheds as contributing to lackluster prices, and he's hopeful the coming weeks will bring better returns.
“The problem right now is growers are not even breaking even,” he added. “You have to have $10.00 a carton for growers to make money, and at the present time, they're in the negative.” On December 8, prices for a 50-pound carton of Russet 40s from Washington were between $7.00 and $8.00, and prices for a carton of 50s were between $8.00 and $9.00.
“Demand has really been flat for the last few months for the product that's out there,” said Sieg. “We just didn't see the push during Thanksgiving that we thought we would see.”
