As a result of a light pipeline of fruit, exports of Washington apples to Central and South America were up this year. This is in spite of overall exports of apples from the state being down by 3%.Todd Fryhover, president of the Washington Apple Commission, says that quantities of Chilean fruit left openings for fruit exported from Washington.
"Due to a lot of factors, the pipeline of fruit to Central and South America was essentially empty," he says. "There was little Chilean fruit and demand was still high, so our exports to that region went up." He estimates that the total volume of exports this year were nearly 50% greater than they were last year. He adds that next year's exports will be hard to predict since it's not clear if Chilean suppliers will put more focus on the European market.
Total exports were down 3%, but Fryhover believes the dip highlights last year's success more than it indicts this year's performance.
"Exports were very good last year," he says, "so it's very difficult to keep up." Total production for the state was down by 3 million bushels.