Potato sales grow one-tenth during 2012

Expenditure on fresh potatoes has grown more than 10% year on year in the food service and retail markets.

This growth is likely to be due to average price increases, as sales volumes are down 2.3% on the year.

Frozen potato products and frozen chips are continuing to do well in terms of both volume and value sales, according to the Potato Council, driven by increases in household penetration and purchase frequency.

In the year ending December 2012, the total out of home market was worth £49.6bn, up 0.7% on the previous year.

There were 1.65bn out of home potato servings over this period, a 0.9% increase.