M. Shahbandeh
Research expert covering agriculture & FMCG
Potato industry worldwide - statistics & facts
One of the world’s most versatile and main food crops is the potato: a root vegetable. The annual plant is rich with essential vitamins and minerals and can be served in a variety of ways, such as mashed, roasted, baked, or boiled. In 2021, an estimated 376 million metric tons of potatoes were produced worldwide. China is the leading potato producer worldwide: the country accounted for approximately 94 million metric tons of potatoes that year. India ranked as the second leading worldwide producer of potatoes. Roughly 89 million metric tons’ worth of sweet potatoes were produced worldwide that year. Production of this particular plant has decreased slightly since 2011. The value of the sweet potato market, however, is projected to grow by about seven percent between 2020 and 2025.
International trade
Potatoes are exported around the world in different forms. In 2021, prepared or preserved potatoes had a total export value of about 10.8 billion U.S. dollars, making it the leading potato export method. The Netherlands, Germany, and Canada are the top exporters of potatoes worldwide. The United States, however, is the leading sweet potato exporter, exporting over 200 million dollars’ worth in 2021. In the same year, Belgium was the leading importer of fresh and chilled potatoes in the world, followed by the Netherlands and the U.S.Potato processing market
The global market for potato processing was valued at about 31.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2022 and was forecast to reach just over 51 billion U.S. dollars by 2030. Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. is among the leading fresh fruit and vegetable processors worldwide. In 2022, the company’s fruit and vegetable sales amounted to about 4.4 billion U.S. dollars. As of April 2022, the country with the highest market price per kilogram of potatoes was South Korea, where one kilogram would cost a buyer three and a half U.S. dollars.
