Potatoes global production

Starch is one of the most abimdant plant polysaccharides and is a major source of carbohydrates and energy in the human diet (Zobel and Stephen, 1995). Starch is the most widely used hydrocolloid in the food industry (Wanous, 2004), and is also a widely used industrial substrate polymer. Total annual world production of starch is approximately 60 million MT and it is predicted to increase by additional approximately 10 million MT by 2010 (FAO, 2006b LMC International, 2002 S. K. Patil and Associates, 2007). Com/maize Zea mays L.), cassava (also known as tapioca—Manihot escu-lenta Crantn.), sweet potato Ipomoea batatas L.), wheat Triticum aestivum L.), and potato Solanum tuberosum L.) are the major sources of starch, while rice Oryza sativa L.), barley Hordeum vulgare L.), sago Cycas spp.), arrowroot Tacca leontopetaloides (L.) Kimtze), buckwheat Fagopyrum esculentum Moench), etc. contribute in lesser amounts to total global production. 

First, cassava (also known as manioc, tapioca, and yuca but only Manihot escu-lanta Crantz) is a human food crop. The plant is a short-lived shrub that produces root tubers (resembling potatoes), which are harvested as a starch source in much of the tropical world. Global production in 1990 was estimated in excess of 100 million tons. The toxicity of incorrectly processed (insufficiently leached with water) tubers has been known for at least 400years. The major toxic constituents are reported to be the two cyanogenic glycosides, linemarin, and lotaustralin, whose structures are shown below. 

Starch is one of the most abundant polysaccharides in nature. It is synthesized as a result of the photosynthesis process from carbon dioxide and water, and is then accumulated in seeds, tubers, and other parts of the plant [1,46], The primary raw material for starch production in the worldmarket is maize (81% of the global production of starch). Lesser, though significant, importance in this case is shared by wheat and potato (9 and 5% of global production, respectively). On the industrial scale, tapioca, rice, and waxy maize are also used. The total production of starch does not exceed 5% [11,89,91]. The global production of starch in the year 2(X)5 reached about 60 million tons [89]. 

Kirkman, M. A. (2007). Global Markets for Processed Potato Products. In D. Vreugdenhil (Ed.), Potato Biology and Biotechnology Advances and Perspectives (pp. 27 4). Elsevier, Oxford. 

Tamm, L., SchueJer, G., MbJJer, K., and Finckh, M.R. 1999. The current situation of organic potato production in Europe. In Global Initiative on Late blight A Threat to Global Food Security. Centro Internacional de la Papa, Lima. p. 26. 

Conversion of sweet potato to starch should be especially attractive to developing countries because it can help to lessen the need for imported materials, which reduces import bills (Garcia and Walter, 1998). For example, sweet potato accounted for 26% of starch production in Asia, and the global SPS production of 4.15 million metric tonnes in the early 1990s came from Asia (Ostertag, 1993). SPS is widely used in a variety of food and industrial applications in Asia (Tian et al, 1991). An industry based on SPS extraction has been developed in several regions in China (Li et al, 1991) and may account for more than two million tonnes annually, but the statistics are not quite precise (Wheatley and Bofu, 2000). The starch is utilized primarily... 

The perishable nature of potatoes limits the market of this raw material to the region of production what is produced in Europe is predominantly consumed in Europe. On the other side, cereals are commodities traded globally and therefore subject to the dynamics of a global market. A recent demonstration of these global dynamics was the temporary shortage of cereal on the market caused, among others, by an increased demand for food coming from China and India, bad weather conditions and the use of cereals as feedstock for bioethanol production. 

The price of PLA is predicted to equal that of PET by 2010 and therefore in the near future is expected to become a commodity polymer. It is being presently produced by Hycail, Galactic, Cargill (which is planning a production capacity of 0.5 million tonnes/year in 2010), and Toyota. PT Toyota Bio Indonesia was established in April 2001 to grow sweet potatoes for the manufacture of bioplastics. At present the global bioplastics market is just 20,000 tonnes annually, but Toyota calculates that as much as 30 million tonnes of the total annual plastics demand of 150 million tonnes could be replaced by bioplastics. In view of that potential, Toyota aims to increase production to 20 million tonnes with a potential sales value of five trillion Yen [38]. This would correspond to two-thirds of the global market of bioplastics by 2020, equivalent to 25% of Toyota s consolidated sales in 2003. 

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