Domestic apple demand poised to pick up

Supplies of Michigan apples at good levels.

“While we don’t have the supply we had a year ago, overall we’re sitting fairly well,” says Scott Swindeman of Deerfield, Mi.-based All Fresh GPS LLC. “I expect to have fruit in the early summer. Some varieties are down more than others.”

For instance, All Fresh’s Gala crop is up as well as a few of its managed varieties including Kiku and Kanzi. “And in those three cases, it’s a case of just more plantings coming into production and those three will continue to grow into the next three years,” adds Swindeman. Overall though, he notes that supplies are likely down 15-20 per cent from a year ago.

Demand to turn
Meanwhile demand is slightly slow right now but that’s expected to pick up soon. “It’s normal. We were very very busy through the holiday season into the first of the year,” Swindeman says. “It’s not uncommon to be a little slow right after the first of the year. And it may also be a little slow because we’ve had some extremely cold temperatures in the Midwest and east. That might have a little bit of bearing.”

Even pricing

Pricing is characterized as stable in the meantime. “We’re down some from last year on certain varieties,” says Swindeman. “That’s due to the competitive pricing in the state of Washington. They’ve got a large crop of smaller than normal sized fruit and that certainly puts some pressure on the market.”

That may change due to that anticipated pick up in demand. “Some of our retailers are changing displays and the varieties in the produce departments--dropping some legacy varieties and making room for some newer varieties,” he says. “That’s one of the biggest challenges: there’s only so much real estate in the produce department for apples and we keep coming out with new varieties. And at the end of the day, something has to go to make room for the new.”

For more information:
Scott Swindeman
All Fresh GPS LLC.
Tel: +1- 517.447.3001
scott@applewoodapples.com
www.applewoodapples.com