Simplot Hoping Customers Super-Size Those Fries

People in the Eastern United States apparently want more french fries.

So the J.R. Simplot Co. is building an $80 million potato processing plant near Portage La Prairie, in Manitoba.

The Canadian plant west of Winnipeg will produce 300 million pounds of fries a year and could be expanded to process 600 million pounds. (A large order of fries at McDonald’s weighs about 6 ounces.) In Washington, the second-largest potato-producing state behind Idaho, news of the new plants caused worry.

“With this fry plant going in, we’ll be at overcapacity,” said Pat Boss, executive director of the Washington Potato Commission. There’s already a worldwide oversupply, he said, and processing companies are turning to Canada as they work to secure rosier long-term financial commitments.

Boss said the strong U.S. dollar has chilled processing capacity here.

U.S.-based buyers can stretch their dollars further by purchasing potato products in Canada. He said Canadian processors pay less for potatoes grown in Canada. It’s an increasing concern among U.S. potato farmers already stinging from poor prices paid for their bumper crop last year.

“The strong dollar has really created some disincentives for french fry processors to open new plants here,” Boss said. “I don’t think the U.S. growers fault the fry companies from going elsewhere. It’s just the current (U.S.) economic situation. “Clearly, the concern is if all these fries start coming into the U.S., how will this impact potato growers? It may mean processors can push prices to growers down even more.”

Simplot has fry plants in Moses Lake, Othello and Hermiston, Ore., and potato foodstuff plants in Quincy and Pasco.

Supplying its Manitoba plant will require about 20,000 acres of potatoes. It’s planned to open in 2002 with 230 workers, said Simplot spokesman Fred Zerza.

The plant will be the company’s third property in Canada. It also has a fertilizer facility and another potato processing plant.

About 30 percent of the french fries made in Washington are exported, mostly to Mexico and Asian countries. The rest are sent to U.S. markets, mostly in the West. Most of the fries produced in Idaho and North Dakota are shipped to the Eastern United States.