During 2017, worldwide sales from potato exports by country totaled US$4.1 billion for unprocessed potatoes. The value of shipments for prepared and/or preserved potatoes -including frozen French fries- totalled another $9.3 billion.
Overall, the value of raw potato exports declined in value by an average -11.2% for all exporting countries since 2013 when raw potatoes shipments were valued at $4.6 billion. Total prepared and/or preserved potato shipments, including frozen French fries, appreciated by 6.9% over the same 5-year period.
The 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of unprocessed raw potatoes shipped during 2017 are:
Netherlands: US$799.6 million (19.4% of exported raw potatoes)
France: $584.6 million (14.2%)
Germany: $387.8 million (9.4%)
China: $281.1 million (6.8%)
Egypt: $272.7 million (6.6%)
United States: $239.1 million (5.8%)
Canada: $237.5 million (5.8%)
Belgium: $209.9 million (5.1%)
United Kingdom: $126.4 million (3.1%)
Spain: $105.5 million (2.6%)
Israel: $82.9 million (2%)
Pakistan: $81 million (2%)
Italy: $57 million (1.4%)
South Africa: $54.9 million (1.3%)
Cyprus: $54.2 million (1.3%)
The countries above were responsible for 86.6% of raw potato exports in 2017.
Of the countries posted above, five increases in international sales since 2013. These were China (up 120.4%), Egypt (up 32.5%), Canada (up 31.5%), South Africa (up 20.2%) and the United States (up 9.9%).
Of the remaining 10 potato suppliers, the fastest decliners were Italy (down -40.3%), Pakistan (down -37.9%), United Kingdom (down -30.2%) and Germany (down -29.6%).
Potato Exports by Country: Prepared and/or Preserved
Frozen prepared and/or preserved potatoes, including French fries, amounted to $7 billion in export sales for 2017 (thus equalling 80.3%), while international shipments of unfrozen prepared or preserved potatoes were worth another $2.3 billion (representing 19.7%).
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of prepared and/or preserved potatoes during 2017, including both frozen and unfrozen goods.
Netherlands: US$2.2 billion (23.4% of exported prepared potatoes)
Belgium: $2 billion (21.9%)
United States: $1.4 billion (15.3%)
Canada: $1.1 billion (11.5%)
Germany: $436 million (4.7%)
France: $421.2 million (4.5%)
Poland: $274.3 million (2.9%)
United Kingdom: $266 million (2.9%)
Argentina: $171.9 million (1.8%)
Spain: $93.4 million (1%)
Mexico: $87.7 million (0.9%)
New Zealand: $70.1 million (0.8%)
Egypt: $69.5 million (0.7%)
Austria: $66 million (0.7%)
Russia: $54 million (0.6%)
The 15 countries listed immediately above shipped 92.5% of all prepared or preserved spuds in 2017, regardless if frozen or unfrozen.
According to information¸ the five suppliers that experienced declines in their exported prepared and/or preserved potato sales were: Argentina (down -23.8%), Russia (down -22.5%), New Zealand (down -15.3%), Mexico (down -5.9%) and Germany (-5.4%).
