Potatoes: Characteristics
Dry matter and sugar: what makes the perfect chip
What this tab covers The supply and physical characteristics of the commodity. Supply: current production, inventories and stocks, capacity utilisation, geographic and producer concentration, how fast supply responds to price, the project pipeline and capital spending, and logistics and export flows. Material: the physical and chemical properties that set its grade, price and end uses (for example purity and conductivity for metals, API gravity, sulfur and energy content for fuels, moisture, protein and fibre quality for crops).Supply volume characteristics
| Characteristic | Figure | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current production volume | 390.4 Mt (2024) | Output rose from 266.8 Mt in 1990 on 17.1 Mha harvested at 22.9 t/ha. India grew 57.1 Mt, almost fourfold since 2000. | FAOSTAT 2024 |
| Inventory and stock levels | no public reserves; India has 40.22 Mt of cold-storage capacity (June 2025) | Potatoes are stored privately. In India the February-March harvest is held in 8,815 cold stores and sold through the year, so stocks fall to near zero by November. Europe stores in ventilated sheds for up to 9-10 months. No world stock series exists. | PIB/NCCD via IIR, 2025 |
| Capacity utilisation | not published | NCCD and PIB report capacity, not use. A PHD Chamber study found about 92% of India's cold stores suited only to potatoes, so use tracks the potato crop: stores fill in March and empty by the next harvest. Belgian and Dutch fry plants report no public utilisation. | IIR 2026; PHD Chamber via KNN India |
| Geographic and producer concentration | China 24.3%, top-3 (China, India, Ukraine) 44.3%, HHI 940 (2024) | Fry processing is concentrated: McCain, Lamb Weston, Simplot and Aviko lead. Fresh exports are led by the Netherlands (20.1%), France (17.9%) and Germany (11.3%). | FAOSTAT 2024; UN Comtrade 2023 |
| Supply elasticity | high within a year: 3-4 month crop, area responds to last season's price | Farmers plant more after a good price year, which causes the classic potato price cycle. Storage smooths supply within the year. Seed supply limits fast expansion, since certified seed takes several field generations. | content of this tile |
| Project pipeline and CapEx | processing expansion in India; cold storage to about 44 Mt by 2031 | McCain is expanding in Gujarat by acquiring Falcon Agrifriz (Oct 2026). NCCD projects cold-storage capacity growth of about 2.2% a year to about 44 Mt by 2031. Fry capacity keeps growing in Belgium, the Netherlands and North America. | AgroSpectrum, Oct 2026; NCCD via IIR, 2026 |
| Logistics and export flows | fresh trade about $6.2 bn (2023), a small share of output | Potatoes are bulky (about 80% water), so trade is regional: trucks across northwest Europe into Belgian fry plants, and Egypt to Europe. Frozen fries travel much further in reefers. In India potatoes move by truck from Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Punjab to all states; cold storage is the bottleneck. | UN Comtrade 2023; content of this tile |
Material characteristics Agricultural / soft commodity
Potatoes are about 78-80% water. For processing, dry matter and sugars matter most: high dry matter gives crisp fries and chips with less oil, and low reducing sugars keep fry colour light and limit acrylamide. Table potatoes are sold on size, skin finish and freedom from defects. Seed potatoes are sold on certified health.
| Property | Value / specification | Why it matters | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dry matter / specific gravity | processing usually needs about 20-24% dry matter (specific gravity about 1.080 or higher) | Sets fry texture, oil uptake and recovery of finished product per tonne | industry processing specs (indicative) |
| Reducing sugars | typically below about 0.2-0.3% of fresh weight for frying | High sugars brown fries and raise acrylamide; cold storage raises sugars | EU Regulation 2017/2158 on acrylamide; industry specs (indicative) |
| Tuber size | ware potatoes graded by minimum size; fries need long tubers, often 45 mm or more | Longer tubers give more long fries, which earn more | UNECE FFV-52 (ware potatoes); buyer specs |
| Defects and disease | limits on greening, sprouting, bruising, rots and common scab | Defects cut packout and price | UNECE FFV-52 |
| Seed health class | certified classes with limits on viruses and bacterial diseases | Seed health drives yield of the next crop | UNECE S-1 seed potato standard |
| Starch content | about 12-20% of fresh weight; starch varieties higher | Determines value to starch factories | agronomy literature (indicative) |