Delegation sells potatoes in Vietnam, Myanmar
MOSES LAKE — Potatoes aren’t the first thing that come to mind when thinking about Vietnamese food.
But members of the Washington State Potato Commission, as well as some of the state’s many potato farmers, are doing all they can to change that.
“We did some training sessions on how to cook and use potatoes in their diet,” said Meg Calloway, a potato grower from the Quincy area who traveled to Vietnam and Myanmar in November, 2016, as part of the Washington Potato Commission trade delegation promoting the state’s potatoes.
“We talked a lot about food processing, and they are really interested in food safety in Vietnam, and are willing to try new products,” Calloway said.
According to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, a private group which collects and analyzes trade data from across the world, Vietnam imported $31.2 million in potatoes in 2014, a paltry amount when compared with total non-meat farm imports of $6 billion.
In the same year, Washington exported $729 million in processed potatoes — 87 percent of the state’s potato crop is processed — the state’s eighth largest export item.
“They are interested in table stock and fresh potatoes in Vietnam,” said Joe Bippert, former manager with the Washington State Department of Agriculture who also went on the trip.
“We did some education events and promotions at supermarkets, and we got some feedback for industry as to what some of the best practices would be for that industry,” he said.
Bippert said they got a commitment from the Vietnamese to import more potatoes, and are talking with restaurants in Vietnam about different ways of “putting potatoes on plates.”
The delegation also visited the slowly liberalizing economy of Myanmar (also known as Burma), which is emerging from decades of authoritarian rule and international isolation. According to both Calloway and Bippert, the cost of Washington’s potatoes make them something of a luxury product for Burmese consumers.
According to Calloway, potatoes are using in Myanmar primarily as a snack food — cut thin and then fried into chips. The country imported a paltry $461,000 worth of potatoes in 2014.
“They are a little pricey right now, but our quality is good compared to what they use right now, so we see a lot of growth down the road,” she said.
Bippert said their meeting allowed snack food makers in Myanmar to “test our products and run them through their machines” and get an idea of how they would work.
Bippert said some of their talks in Myanmar focused on marketing chips made from Washington potatoes as a “premium chip,” and there were a lot of discussions about how to brand and market a premium snack food.
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