Current UCUI
68/100
Moderate-High Uncertainty
+4 points from prior reading
Potato Market Intelligence
Potato Raw Material Cost Pass Through
Potato raw material cost pass through isolates the potato-price and usage component of finished-product cost. Pair matched regional benchmarks with quality, yield, recovery, contract coverage, and timing to distinguish purchase-price movement from raw-material usage variance.
Market Data
How to read this market
Potato raw-material-cost-pass-through data isolates the portion of finished-product cost change attributable to potato purchase price and potato usage per saleable unit. The market object is raw-potato cost per finished product by plant, supplier region, crop period, contract status, and quality profile.
Use the data to evaluate supplier cost bridges, forecast customer resets, and distinguish raw price from yield-driven usage. Pair matched regional benchmarks with dry matter, defects, recovery, inventory, contract coverage, and finished output.
Data Module
Potato Raw Material Cost Pass-Through
Market objectraw-potato cost in finished output
Primary measuresprice and usage effect
Key dimensionsplant, crop, contract, product
Commercial usecost bridge and pricing review
Quality adjustmentyield and recovery
Compare withconversion, freight, packaging, oil
Analysis
Why this matters
Raw-material cost can rise with no change in purchase price if lower quality requires more potatoes per finished case. Conversely, better solids and recovery can offset part of a nominal field-price increase.
Commercial interpretation should therefore split price variance from usage variance. That prevents a processor from mechanically passing through a crop-price percentage that overstates or understates the true finished-unit impact.
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 food processors, procurement teams, customer-pricing groups, and finance leaders that need to understand how potato raw-material cost passes into finished-product economics. Raw-material pass-through isolates the effect of potatoes themselves from conversion, oil, labor, energy, packaging, storage, freight, and commercial margin. MassGain helps users match the relevant potato benchmark to the supplier’s actual sourcing region, crop period, variety, quality, and contract status.
The raw contribution can change through both price and usage. Lower solids, more defects, or weaker recovery may increase potato cost per finished case even when price per tonne is stable. Conversely, stronger yield can offset a higher purchase price. MassGain combines benchmark movement with contract coverage, intake quality, plant recovery, inventory, and customer reset timing. Procurement can evaluate supplier cost bridges, processors can calculate product- and plant-specific exposure, and finance can forecast when raw inflation reaches margin or customer pricing. Historical analysis also reveals whether decreases passed through as consistently as increases. MassGain does not determine contractual entitlement or disclose proprietary costs. It provides a transparent evidence framework for calculating the supported raw-material component, avoiding double counting, and distinguishing price, quality, and timing effects from other manufacturing and logistics costs.
Use Case
A frozen-potato processor’s grower contracts rise 6%, but MassGain shows improved solids and recovery reduce the effective raw-potato cost increase per finished case to 3.5%. Finance uses the quality-adjusted result in customer cost bridges rather than passing through the field-price percentage mechanically.
FAQs
What is raw material cost pass-through?
It is the portion of finished-product cost change attributable to potato price and usage economics.
Why include processing yield?
Quality and recovery determine how many raw tonnes are required per saleable finished unit.
How does MassGain prevent double counting?
It separates potatoes from conversion, oil, packaging, freight, storage, and margin and tracks each component independently.
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.