Current UCUI
68/100
Moderate-High Uncertainty
+4 points from prior reading
Potato Market Intelligence
Potato Distributor Margin
Potato distributor margin is the spread between acquisition cost and resale value after freight, handling, labor, packaging, shrink, inventory age, rebates, and service. Reviewing the metric by branch, product, and destination helps distributors benchmark against current replacement economics rather than blended averages.
Market Data
How to read this market
Potato distributor margin is the spread between acquisition cost and resale value after considering freight, handling, warehouse labor, packaging, shrink, inventory age, rebates, credit terms, and service. The metric should be reviewed by product, branch, customer, and destination rather than as one blended company percentage.
Use the data by comparing internal selling values with matched regional replacement cost and historical delivered spreads. This shows whether margin movement comes from the potato market, logistics, product mix, inventory decisions, or a true change in commercial spread.
Data Module
Distributor margin context
Acquisitionmatched supplier or replacement cost
Freightlane and fuel expense
Warehousehandling, labor, and storage
Inventoryshrink, age, and turnover
Selling valuecustomer or branch realization
Decision usepricing, branch review, and working capital
Analysis
Why this matters
A stable percentage margin can still be poor economics if replacement cost is rising faster than selling price or if inventory turns slow and financing expense increases.
Margin should therefore be measured against current replacement economics, not historical purchase cost alone. Branch and SKU detail is critical because one location can be underpriced while another carries a large spread on aging stock.
Signal 01
Usable Crop Uncertainty Index
UCUI translates crop and market complexity into a simple uncertainty signal. Higher readings indicate greater uncertainty—not necessarily higher prices.
Understand uncertainty. Anticipate risk. Act earlier.
UCUI is designed to analyze potato-industry publications and data signals across regions, varieties, weather, disease, storage, supply, and demand.
WeatherHigh
DiseaseHigh
StorageMedium
SupplyMedium
Single-day snapshot based on a scan of 11,500+ web and social signals. Get historical and real-time data by clicking the button below.
The MassGain Daily
Today’s market analysis.
A daily editorial synthesis of physical potato data, crop signals, market reporting, and what participants should watch next.
September 10, 2026Latest MassGain publication
Potato prices quiet at $30/cwt as regional harvest damage buzzes beneath the surface
Market indicators are stable, but reporting from Europe and select growing areas shows real, localized crop stress — a reminder that steady headline prices can mask uneven physical risk.
Signal 02
MassGain Potato Index
Independent physical-pricing intelligence and market-trend analysis for procurement, forecasting, contracting, and scenario planning.
Core Russet Carton Median
312.45 USD/MT
Latest qualifying physical-market observation
+4.75 (+1.55%)
Price discovery for the physical potato market
MPI is designed to track physical pricing data, price trends, deltas, and divergences across regions and potato types.
Series window45 days
Current public coverageCore russet cartons
Primary source basisQualifying USDA physical rows
UnitUSD per metric tonne
Single-day snapshot based on most recent 45 days worth of data. Limited to US Russets only. Get more complete, global data about all varieties by clicking the button below.
Signal 03
MassGain Spot Reference
An independent spot reference designed for price discovery, contract discussions, procurement comparisons, and risk modeling.
Russet Burbank — U.S. Midsize
305 USD/MT
Demonstration reference format
+1.6% WoW · Confidence: High
A trusted benchmark for pricing, contracts, and risk
MSR is intended to use real transactions and verifiable physical-market data to support negotiations, price checks, contracting, and risk models.
ProductRusset Burbank
SpecificationU.S. midsize, 40–70 count
Reference typePhysical spot benchmark
StatusIn development
Based on most recent 45 days worth of data. Limited to US Russets only. Get more complete, global data about all varities by clicking the button below. Full access also includes historical data -- including depreciated NYMEX/CBOE/EEX spot references -- projections, trends, and AI-driven insights.
The MassGain Product Ladder
From insight to intelligence to action
Four integrated products built for the physical potato market, delivered through public pages, reports, exports, dashboards, and API access.
1
Content
Original research, commentary, aggregated news, and market updates.
- What matters right now?
- What is happening out there?
2
UCUI™
Usable Crop Uncertainty Index: an AI-powered signal of crop risk and market uncertainty.
- Understand uncertainty
- Anticipate risk
- Act earlier
3
MPI™
MassGain Potato Index: independent physical-pricing intelligence and trend analysis.
- Price discovery
- Regional trends
- Procurement planning
4
MSR™
MassGain Spot Reference: an independent benchmark for price discovery and risk modeling.
- Contracts
- Negotiations
- Risk models
Content + UCUI + MPI + MSR + API access
Get historical series, regional detail, constituent data, exports, alerts, and direct data access.
Overview
Who is this for?
This page is for potato distributors, wholesalers, category managers, branch leaders, and finance teams that need to benchmark potato distributor margin. Distributor margin reflects the spread between acquisition cost and selling price, but the commercially meaningful result also depends on freight, handling, warehouse labor, shrink, packaging, inventory age, credit terms, rebates, and service performance.
MassGain adds an independent market layer to that calculation. Users can match supplier purchases with the relevant origin, variety, grade, size, package, crop period, and delivery basis, then compare branch or customer selling prices with historical wholesale and delivered spreads. This reveals whether margin movement comes from a changing potato market, route costs, product mix, inventory decisions, or a widening commercial spread.
The analysis supports branch scorecards, supplier and customer negotiations, inventory allocation, and working-capital planning. A distributor may accept a lower percentage margin on fast-turn, low-risk volume while requiring more spread for aging inventory or difficult service lanes. MassGain does not define the correct markup or disclose competitors’ private profitability. It provides the matched replacement-cost and market context needed to evaluate margin quality, protect against stale pricing, and avoid treating one blended company average as representative of every product and destination.
Use Case
A regional wholesaler reports stable gross margin overall, but MassGain shows one branch is selling large russet cartons below current delivered replacement cost while another is earning an unusually high spread on aging red-potato inventory. Management updates branch pricing and reallocates stock instead of changing the companywide markup.
FAQs
What drives potato distributor margin?
Acquisition price, freight, handling, packaging, shrink, inventory age, service, customer mix, rebates, and selling price all matter.
Why should margin be reviewed by branch and product?
Origins, lanes, packages, turnover, customers, and replacement costs can differ materially across the network.
How does MassGain support margin benchmarking?
It matches purchase and selling markets and compares current delivered spreads with historical regional relationships.
Put this market intelligence to work
Get historical data, regional detail, benchmarks, alerts, exports, and API access tailored to your procurement
and market-analysis needs.
Data and Methodology
Professional market-data standards
MassGain is building transparent public market infrastructure. Each live metric will identify its date, unit, coverage, methodology, and source basis.
Data provenance
MassGain uses public, licensed, contributed, and independently derived physical-market information. Source availability and publication schedules vary.
Timing and revisions
Figures may reflect the latest available observation rather than a same-day transaction. Source data and MassGain calculations may be corrected, restated, or revised.
Not transactional pricing
MassGain figures are informational reference values and do not constitute executable bids, offers, settlements, or guarantees that a transaction can occur at the displayed value.
No individualized advice
Content and data are provided for informational and analytical purposes and do not constitute financial, investment, legal, trading, or individualized procurement advice.
Independent publication
Certain observations may be derived from USDA reports. MassGain is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USDA.
Commercial use and licensing
Public display does not grant rights to reproduce, redistribute, republish, or incorporate MassGain indices or references into commercial products or contracts without authorization.