I thought the same thing and did some searching. Based on the street price of potatoes in China, it's in the neighborhood of 30k pounds. More if that number is wholesale value.

The other thing we can surmise which is strange about the crime: He had to have stolen a truck worth of potatoes. So he either used his own truck, or he stole a truck and then gave it back after having fenced the potatoes.

>So he either used his own truck, or he stole a truck and then gave it back after having fenced the potatoes.

I wonder if it's possible that he ditched the truck afterwards, it was recovered unharmed, so they didn't bother charging him with that, or the article just didn't bother listing the additional charge of truck theft since the potato theft was far worse financially.

from Chinese news report: 于某今年35岁，山东人，三年前采购了一批价值11万元的土豆后就消失了，逃到嘉兴西塘开了家民宿，利用弟弟的身份东躲西藏，警方接到报警后，将其列为网上追逃对象。

So it's more like a fraud. He bought some potatoes and then disappeared without paying.

maybe a dozen of really expensive potatoes?

Well, that made me search for "most expensive potatoes" and sure enough, some exotic potatoes go for $300/pound. til. http://www.luxuo.com/lifestyle/gastronomy/potato-la-bonnotte...

Or a single Faberge potato...

(edit: Holy shit, that exists...)

Yeah, I hear those potatoes are the shit over in Palo Alto along with pink BMW's for 16th birthdays.