U.S. sweet potato production declined 23 percent in 2018 due to Hurricane Florence

Following a record-high sweet potato production year in 2017, Hurricane Florence slammed into North Carolina’s sweet potato growing region in September 2018, contributing to the largest single-year U.S. production fall in 48 years. 2018 U.S. sweet potato production fell 23 percent to 2.7 billion pounds, a decrease of more than 800 million pounds from 2017. Total sweet potato production was the lowest since 2013. During 2015–17, North Carolina averaged 54 percent of total U.S. sweet potato production, but fell to 40 percent in 2018 as the State’s production dipped to 11 billion pounds from 19.7 billion pounds in 2017. Other major reporting States, in order of production, include California, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Production was mostly flat for all of these States except for California, which increased its production by 19 percent to 7.8 billion pounds. The average price in 2018 for sweet potatoes reacted to the national decline in production and surged to $23.90 per hundredweight—the second-largest annual increase in 27 years and a tie for the second-highest price on record (in nominal terms). This chart appears in the ERS Vegetables and Pulses Outlook newsletter, released in May 2019.

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