Current UCUI
68/100
Moderate-High Uncertainty
+4 points from prior reading
Potato Market Intelligence
Potato Fry Color Index
Potato fry color index standardizes fry-test color results across lots, varieties, suppliers, regions, and storage periods. MassGain connects the score with sugars, storage temperature, crop stress, compliant supply, rejection rates, and quality premiums so processors can identify late-storage risk and allocate the best lots before total inventory appears scarce.
Market Data
How to read this market
Potato fry color index standardizes fry-test color results so processors can compare lots, varieties, suppliers, regions, and storage periods consistently. The object should retain testing scale, preparation method, sample timing, variety, crop and storage history, and the product specification associated with the score.
Use the index with glucose and sucrose readings, storage temperature, crop stress, regional compliant supply, rejection rates, and price premiums. This helps procurement and operations identify emerging late-storage quality risk before total potato inventory appears scarce.
Data Module
Potato Fry Color Index Monitor
Scorestandardized fry-color result
Methodpreparation and scoring protocol
Lotvariety, origin, and storage cohort
Sugarsglucose and sucrose context
Marketcompliant supply and quality premium
Decision uselot allocation and sourcing
Analysis
Why this matters
Total stocks and fry-quality availability can diverge sharply late in storage. A region may hold ample potatoes while light-color compliant lots become scarce. The index is therefore most commercially useful when paired with the distribution of scores and replacement supply, not just the average.
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 fry and chip processors, quality teams, procurement leaders, growers, and plant controllers that need a potato fry color index. The index converts repeated fry-test results into a standardized measure that can be compared across lots, varieties, storage periods, regions, and suppliers. MassGain helps users place that quality signal beside the physical market conditions that determine availability and price.
Fry color is influenced by reducing sugars, maturity, variety, crop stress, storage temperature, dormancy, reconditioning, and handling. An index is most useful when the sampling method, scale, preparation, timing, and acceptance thresholds remain consistent. MassGain connects indexed color with glucose and sucrose readings, regional crop and storage signals, variety-specific supply, quality premiums, rejection rates, and plant performance. Procurement can identify whether a supplier premium reflects genuinely scarce light-color material, operations can reserve the best lots for sensitive products, and finance can quantify the cost of darker color through downgrade, waste, rework, or customer claims. The result is a repeatable quality benchmark that makes color deterioration visible before it becomes a broad production failure and supports more precise allocation, storage, purchasing, and settlement decisions.
Use Case
A chip processor's average fry-color index deteriorates during late storage even though total inventory remains on plan. MassGain shows the change is concentrated in two older lots and that compliant supply remains available from another region. Operations reallocates the affected lots, while procurement buys only the resulting quality gap.
FAQs
What does a potato fry color index measure?
It standardizes fry-test color results so lots, varieties, suppliers, and storage periods can be compared consistently.
What causes the index to worsen?
Higher reducing sugars, storage temperature, age, crop stress, variety, maturity, and handling can darken fried product.
How does MassGain make the index actionable?
It connects color scores with supply, storage, sugars, prices, rejections, and product-specific economic impact.
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.