Persistent showers in British Columbia have obstructed harvesting of the province's cherry crop. Demand has been very good for cherries, as British Columbia's shippers enter into a part of the season when they are responsible for the bulk of production in North America.“Demand is crazy,” said Andre Bailey with Global Fruit in Creston. “As long as we can keep the quality up there, we should finish strong through the end of the season.” He attributes some of the healthy demand to the quality of fruit produced by Washington state's growers. When consumers get a good impression early in the year, he explained, they tend to buy more cherries.
“Washington did a good job of setting the table for us,” said Bailey. “There will be a few guys in Washington that will go for another couple of weeks, especially at higher elevations, but we should have two or three weeks where we have the last cherries in North America.”
Rain has caused numerous delays in harvesting this year. Early estimates suggested the province's crop could reach up to 2.0 million boxes, or 40 million pounds, but complications from the weather will likely make for a smaller crop. Warm weather during the growing season led to an early harvest, with picking starting in mid-June rather than the usual late-June start, and the combination of favorable early weather and plenty of moisture have made for large cherries.
“We had absolutely perfect weather after blossom, and that was great for cell division,” said Bailey. “So we have great size, great stems and great fruit quality.” Demand from the export market has been very good, partly because Asian markets appreciate large sizes. But there's only so much fruit to go around, so exports are winding down.
“There's lots of demand from Southeast Asia and China for Canadian fruit,” noted Bailey. “But the key is balancing exports in order to maintain momentum in the North American market.”
For more information:
Andre Bailey
Global Fruit, Ltd.
+1 250 428 2320