While the overall apple volumes out of Washington are down this year, the sector is facing a good market. John Long of L&M Companies shares: “Last year the Washington State apple crop was about 135 million boxes compared to this year with about 118 boxes. We expected to have lower volumes this year because of the weather and because some varieties are on an alternate, smaller-bearing year this year. The overall volumes did turn about to be lower than we estimated, about 8-10% lower, because of some storms we saw around Labor Day.”
Strong domestic market
With lower volumes being available and overall retail demand being strong, the prices in the market this year have been better than they were last year, Long shares. “I would say demand is good, especially at the retail level. The wholesale markets are still somewhat depressed, but they have recovered quite a bit compared to where they were at in the spring. We’ve also seen a lot of benefits from the USDA programs, those have been really great for the industry,” Long says.
There are a few varieties for which the demand is outpacing the supply right now. “For some varieties, like Galas, Honeycrisp, and Granny Smiths the supplies are very tight right now. Even the Red Delicious, on which we generally have good supply, are tight especially on given sizes.” Long says, adding: “Even with inventory levels being tight at the present, the State of Washington will still have plenty of apples to move throughout the season.”
Exports are down
While the domestic apple market is strong, the exports this year are down. “For L&M, we usually export around 30% of our product, but this year I’d be surprised if we hit 15-20% for our exports,” Long says. “The main reason for this is the world economy right now. The dollar is very strong, and this means that importers have less dollars to spend, so it’s just a difficult export market right now. Typically, exported apples are sold at a high enough price to make the whole logistics of it worthwhile, pricewise, but the global prices just aren’t there right now,” he explains.
Generally, the main export markets for L&M Companies are in India, Pacific Rim countries like Taiwan and Hong Kong, as well as China, the Middle East, Mexico and Central America. “The demand from many countries is down right now due to competition from other growing areas throughout the world. Another obstacle with export business is the long transit times and the lower export prices. It is sometime more profitable for the grower just to divert the apples to the domestic market instead,” Long shares.
L&M’s first year distributing Cosmic Crisp
Besides the major the traditional varieties, L&M also works with some proprietary apple varieties. “We have our own proprietary variety, Crimson Delight, which we’ve had for the past five years. It is a very good, fresh eating apple that’s both crispy and juicy and it keeps very well. Last year we had about 40,000 boxes and this year we have about 35,000 boxes. We will continue to look for retail customers to promote the Crimson Delight apples.
This year will also be L&M’s first year packing the Cosmic Crisp apple. “The volumes of the Cosmic Crisp are growing rapidly in Washington,” Long says. “Last year, the state had 350,000 boxes and this year there are 1.5 million boxes. With the trees coming into maturation, this number will only continue to grow for the next few years. For us, we will have about 350 bins this year and it will be our first year packing and selling them,” he adds.
While a lower volume year can be challenging, Long has a positive outlook on the season: “It’s always easier to sell the apples when there is an overabundance of product, but it’s nice to be in a situation where the return for the product is better – I’ll always take that rather than an oversupply situation. It’s more challenging on the sales side, but it’s good for the growers and the industry,” he concludes. 
For more information:
John Long
L&M Companies
Tel: +1 (509) 225-2610
Email: john.long@lmcompanies.com
www.lmcompanies.com