Current UCUI
68/100
Moderate-High Uncertainty
+4 points from prior reading
Potato Market Intelligence
Potato Free Buy Market Share
Potato free buy market share measures how much purchasing occurs in the open market rather than through committed contracts. MassGain connects the share with product, region, buyer, delivery timing, spot liquidity, contract performance, storage, and replacement risk so users can interpret flexibility versus exposure.
Market Data
How to read this market
Potato free-buy-market-share data measures the portion of defined purchases completed in the open market rather than through prearranged contracts. The market object is the free-buy share by region, variety, grade, buyer type, delivery period, crop year, and volume or value denominator.
Use the data to distinguish deliberate flexibility from contract underperformance, abundant spot supply, or late replacement needs and to connect spot dependence with price, market depth, storage, and coverage.
Data Module
Potato Free Buy Market Share
Market objectopen-market share of purchases
Primary measuresvolume and value share
Key dimensionsregion, variety, buyer, period
Commercial usesourcing-structure and exposure analysis
Driverscontract gaps, flexibility, spot depth
Compare withtotal purchases and replacement risk
Analysis
Why this matters
A high free-buy share can mean flexibility in a deep market or vulnerability in a thin one. The percentage alone does not determine risk.
Commercial interpretation should connect share with specification, liquidity, contract performance, and replacement cost and locate any concentration at the plant or delivery-period level.
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 16, 2026Latest MassGain publication
Potato market steady for now; Russia’s smaller crop is the salient risk
Spot prices are flat and USDA terminal reports read ‘market steady,’ but a renewed forecast for a smaller Russian harvest and recent regional harvest stress leave seasonal import timing and storage losses as the key uncertainty.
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 procurement and market-intelligence teams measuring potato free buy market share: the portion of purchased volume or value secured through open-market transactions rather than prearranged contracts. MassGain defines the denominator clearly, separates free-buy purchases from contract call-offs, options, transfers, and formula settlements, and organizes the result by region, variety, grade, delivery period, buyer type, and crop year.
Users can see whether spot dependence is rising because buyers are deliberately preserving flexibility, contracts are underperforming, supply is unexpectedly abundant, or processors are covering shortfalls late. The suite connects free-buy share with spot prices, remaining uncommitted supply, storage condition, processor coverage, volatility, and supplier concentration. Procurement can benchmark its exposure, finance can estimate budget and replacement risk, and analysts can compare market structure across seasons.
A high free-buy share is not automatically good or bad; its meaning depends on liquidity, quality, timing, and the cost of replacing missing supply. MassGain does not infer private transactions that are not observed. It provides a transparent market-structure view showing how much buying is exposed to current physical price discovery and how that exposure changes through the crop year.
Use Case
A processor discovers that 28% of spring purchases are now free buy versus 11% in a normal year. MassGain shows the increase is concentrated in one plant whose contract supplier underdelivered. Procurement secures targeted replacement coverage there instead of changing the company-wide contracting strategy.
FAQs
What is free buy market share?
It is the percentage of defined potato purchases completed in the open market outside committed contract programs.
Why can the share rise?
Contract shortfalls, deliberate flexibility, abundant spot supply, changing demand, or late coverage needs can raise it.
How does MassGain calculate it?
It defines eligible free-buy and total purchases, aligns periods and specifications, and reports both volume- and value-based shares.
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.