Movement on apples from Pennsylvania continues to be steady but price is strengthening on some varieties. "Honeycrisp pricing has been moving up steadily. I think we have more Honeycrisp than we did at this time last year as an industry, but that price has been moving up since even before Christmas," says Brandon Ruppert of Cohen Produce Marketing, noting that pricing on both small and large Gala apples is also picking up. Pricing on remaining varieties is steady.
This is on an apple supply from the state that looks good and relatively similar to this time last year. "We're not expecting to gap on any of the core varieties. We should have Reds, Galas and Golden Delicious between now and the start of the new harvest," says Ruppert, adding that it will gap on items such as Honeycrisp and Pink Lady as it has historically done, though the volume on those two items is lower than last year at this time. "This time of year things start to slow down. The pace we were at earlier, we were a little nervous about having continuous supply but it seems like we're at a good pace right now."
Indeed, while processing demand for Eastern apples is high this year, there were initial concerns about managing supply for retail. "That needle moves between what can go for processing and what can go through other channels. The good thing about the Eastern processor business is it sets a nice floor for pricing and movement. When processing is strong, that means more apples can go in. The hope is that the return to the grower is strong," says Ruppert.
© Cohen Produce Marketing
The arrival of summer fruit
Industry demand overall for apples has been healthy through the fall and winter and some varieties such as Galas and Red Delicious are ahead of last year's movement. However, this is the time of year when domestic summer competing commodities start to come on, such as cherries, berries and citrus. This may push the apple industry to get creative when it comes to keeping that movement of apples steady.
As for the 2026 fall crop, growers are watching and awaiting the bloom following recent colder temperatures seen throughout the East. "We're still assessing the impact and that could take three to four weeks. It's a little too early to tell how much damage is out there though we can expect some damage due to the frosts on April 20th-21st. However, we deal with that every year," says Ruppert. "It seems like it gets warmer earlier and earlier so we're susceptible to one or two of those temperature drops that makes everybody nervous."
For more information:
Brandon Ruppert
Cohen Produce Marketing
Tel: +1 (717) 975-9111
[email protected]
http://www.cohenproduce.com/
