Apple growers in California can't match the volume that the Pacific Northwest puts out every season, so the Golden State's growers instead take advantage of a window of time in the summer when they are one of the few sources of fresh apples in North America. But an early start to this year's harvest brought California's shippers more competition from old crop fruit that is still available from storage.
“Last year's season was a little early, and we're tracking earlier than that this year,” said Rich Sambado with Primavera Marketing in Linden, California. Harvesting on Galas began around the middle of July and is expected to run through the end of August.
“When you start early, there are more old crop apples around, and you still have fruit from New Zealand and Chile,” explained Sambado. “As there's more supply from around the world and Washington shippers transition seamlessly from old crop to new crop apples, that window for California apples gets smaller.” But he added that California fruit can still find a good niche by relying on quality and being one of the few sources of fresh apples during a large part of the summer.
With more competition, the early part of the season brought a troubled market, noted Sambado. But things have since improved. On August 8, prices for a carton of Gala 72s from the San Joaquin Valley were between $36.00 and $42.00, and prices for a carton of 138s were between $20.00 and $24.00. Sambado expects that steady market to last through the remainder of Gala supplies.
“The market could go down when Washington's season gets into full swing,” he said. “But Washington fruit seems to be larger and our manifest is smaller fruit, so I think we will ride out this market the way it is.”
For more information:
Rich Sambado
Primavera Marketing
+1 209 931 9420