Size and quality of Western Australian apples are ‘looking good’ according to Paul Good, of Newton Orchards. “With Pink Lady we’re still waiting for Australian crops to come off. We’ve had a couple of cold, wet mornings so the apples are looking ready to pick up to a week ahead.”
Market price is still a guessing game according to Mr Good, and will depend on overall supply, and storage. “There’s no crystal ball with prices. We’ve got to wait and see how the fruit is going in the cold store too,” he says referring to varieties already picked. “We’re pretty happy with what we’re seeing though.”
The Royal Gala varieties have all been picked, and Newton Brothers finished picking those in about the third week of February, later than other areas. “The royal galas went ok. It will be interesting to see how well it stores because we had a very hot summer,” notes Mr Good.
There is also the potential to export this year, to Asia and parts of Europe, according to him. He also confirmed that the Newton Brothers Orchard will be sticking with its existing varieties of Pink Lady apples, as it is happy with the quality being produced, rather than trying to compete with the early variety that is starting to appear on the market.