The movement in Eastern apples looks to be slightly down this year. "Demand for apples seems to be down somewhat. I would say that it's down about 10-15 percent," says Tim Mansfield with Sun Orchard Fruit Co. There could be a number of factors leading to softer demand for apples, including the sizeable Washington apple crop. "That's a lot of pressure on the market, even though our apple demand is mostly local."
As for New York's crop this season, the 2023-2024 crop was a mid to good-sized crop with a good mix of sizing on the fruit.
Varietal notes
As for varieties, Sun Orchard Fruit's supply of Cortland apples, a Northeast regional apple, finished up at the first of the year. The rest of its varieties, including Pazazz, Honeycrisp, Gala, McIntosh, Gingergold, Fuji and more tend to still have good supply. "Our supply will probably go a little longer this year. For quite a few years now, at least with some varieties, we've gone all the way into the harvest of the new crop," says Mansfield.
All of this is leaving pricing down on apples and it looks as though it will stay that way in the near future. The movement of apples in the late winter-early spring is largely affected by the citrus crop and how it's moving as well, followed by domestic stone fruit supply which starts in April.
For more information:
Tim Mansfield
Sun Orchard Fruit Co.
Tel: +1 (716) 778-8544
tim@sunorchardapples.com
https://www.sunorchardapples.com