Prices are starting to reach historic highs for sweet potatoes this month in the U.S. "Last year, even though we had a very short crop, prices still remained very reasonable. That doesn't appear to be what we're facing this year," says Harris S. Cutler of Race-West Company, Inc. "Demand is so strong that the only way to slow it down is to raise the prices at the shipping level."
© Race-West Company, Inc.
While sweet potatoes are largely coming from North Carolina, Mississippi and California right now, this comes following a shorter crop in Mississippi due to weather conditions. Meanwhile, North Carolina planted a similar-sized crop compared to the year before. "So people have been burning through their supply so quickly that it appears we're going to be extremely short starting now and through the summer," says Cutler. "Higher pricing will make this shorter crop manageable."
Demand is not only strong domestically but also on exports. "Right now, domestic sales are equal to export sales in market prices. There's also little risk associated with shipping sweet potatoes domestically as opposed to putting them on a container for 21 days," he says, noting that the weaker dollar could provide slightly lower pricing on exports.
In addition to the U.S., sweet potatoes are also coming out of Spain, Portugal and Egypt.
Consumption developments
At the same time, sweet potato consumption continues to grow, thanks partly to the health halo associated with the item that is often considered a "superfood." In fact, Cutler supports the recent change in the U.S. dietary guidelines towards consuming whole fruits and vegetables over processed foods as beneficial to the industry and sweet potatoes too.
© Race-West Company, Inc.
There are also very specific pockets of demand that have increased. "The snack demand for sweet potatoes as chips has doubled and the demand for sweet potato in dog food has increased too. Dog food manufacturers are seeing sweet potatoes as something that's healthy for dogs too," says Cutler.
In turn, he anticipates that next season, a larger sweet potato crop will be planted. "In many cases, sweet potatoes sold during November and December are cured sweet potatoes. They generally use the previous year's crop for Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays because they're cured and regular sweet potatoes are just starting to come off in November," says Cutler. "They prefer to keep those sweet potatoes and cure them so there are better sugars and flavor tones. This year though, there's not going to be a chance to do that because with the demand and the light supply being carried over, whatever the increases are, they're going to go through them very quickly in November and December which are historically big months for sweet potatoes."
For more information:
Harris S. Cutler
Race-West Company, Inc.
Tel: +1 (570) 586-5700
[email protected]
https://www.race-west.com/
