Current UCUI
68/100
Moderate-High Uncertainty
+4 points from prior reading
Potato Market Intelligence
Potato Freezing Injury Losses
Potato freezing injury losses quantify usable-volume and value loss after severe cold exposure in the field, storage, or transit. MassGain connects temperature and inspection evidence with salvage, contracts, replacement supply, and market prices so only the genuinely affected volume is carried into loss and coverage decisions.
Market Data
How to read this market
Potato freezing injury losses measure the usable-volume and value loss caused by freezing or severe cold exposure in the field, storage, or transit. The object should preserve lot or region, product, temperature evidence, duration, inspection findings, severity, storage or route, and the intended commercial use.
Use the data with salvage recovery, quality deterioration, contracts, regional replacement supply, prices, and disposal or alternate-use value. Segment affected and unaffected inventory so a localized cold event is not automatically applied to the whole crop or storage position.
Data Module
Potato Freezing Injury Monitor
Exposurefield, storage, or transit cold event
Productvariety and intended use
Evidencetemperature and inspection record
Lossunusable, downgraded, or salvageable volume
Contextcontracts and replacement supply
Decision useinventory loss and coverage
Analysis
Why this matters
Physical injury and financial loss are not the same. Some affected potatoes may retain value in a tolerant use, while replacement prices can rise if the cold event is regional. The correct commercial loss is the net gap after salvage plus the cost of replacing only the specification-compliant volume that was truly lost.
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 growers, storage operators, processors, distributors, procurement teams, and claims managers that need to measure potato freezing injury losses. Freezing injury can occur in the field, storage, or transit and may cause tissue breakdown, discoloration, moisture loss, rot, reduced shelf life, and processing failure. MassGain connects the damaged volume with weather, temperature records, storage or route, product specifications, regional prices, and replacement availability.
The loss should be evaluated by severity, lot, end use, and timing rather than applying one blanket deduction. Some potatoes may be unsuitable for sale, while others can be segregated, processed quickly, or redirected to a lower-value outlet. MassGain compares inspection and temperature evidence with historical regional incidents, quality and recovery outcomes, salvage value, disposal cost, and current replacement prices. Procurement can choose between acceptance, allowance, replacement, or alternate disposition; finance and lenders can update inventory value; and operations can protect unaffected lots and customer commitments. MassGain does not determine legal liability or recommend technical storage treatment. It provides the market and economic framework needed to calculate usable loss, identify where the exposure occurred, and distinguish physical damage from the higher replacement cost created by a regional cold event.
Use Case
A cold event damages part of a stored crop just as regional supply tightens. MassGain combines temperature records, inspection, salvage recovery, contract commitments, and replacement prices. The processor segregates affected lots, accelerates usable material, writes down the unsalvageable portion, and secures only the resulting net gap.
FAQs
What can potato freezing injury cause?
It can cause tissue breakdown, discoloration, rot, moisture loss, reduced shelf life, rejection, and processing failure.
Does freezing injury make every potato worthless?
Not always. Severity, end use, food safety, timing, and salvage or alternate disposition determine usable value.
How does MassGain assess freezing losses?
It connects temperature and inspection evidence with recovery, inventory value, replacement supply, prices, and contractual exposure.
Put this market intelligence to work
Get historical data, regional detail, benchmarks, alerts, exports, and API access tailored to your procurement
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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.