Although harvesting of cherries in the Pacific Northwest has been underway throughout June, the industry is expecting peak volumes to arrive in the next few weeks. With a good bloom season, growers, shippers and retailers are expecting good volumes of fruit."We had some rain and cool temperatures that slowed down the early progression of the crop," said Bob Mast of Columbia Marketing International in Washington. "But we're now getting into a nice weather pattern with warmer sunny days and good chill temperatures at night, which is great for growth, maturity and a nice finish for fruit." That favorable weather has fit in nicely with the heart of the season.
"We have a very optimistic outlook for the remainder of the season," said Mast. "The next four to six weeks should bring top-notch cherries with Bing cherries and Rainier cherries hitting peak volumes over the next couple of weeks." These varieties along with the later seasonal varieties such as Sweethearts and Skeena’s typically make up the bulk of the season's cherries and tend to be sweeter and larger than earlier harvested varieties. The next week should bring greater volumes of Bing cherries with brix levels in the 17-20 percent range. Rainiers, with brix levels in the 20-25 percent range, should pick up the second week of July.
As the season produces more late-variety fruit, however, Mast believes retailers will need to remain aggressive with merchandising to market the amount of cherries the industry will need to move."We have a relatively short selling window for our crop, so it's hard for retailers to make up sales if they fall behind," he said. That means retailers usually maintain aggressive marketing efforts, and because growers have extended the growing season further into July and August with additional late season plantings, Mast believes retailers need to keep those efforts going deeper into the Summer.
Prices were reported as being fair to growers and retailers while maintaining good value for consumers. Exports, particularly to Southeast Asia, have offered an alternative sales channel for sellers, thus helping to set a realistic price floor for the domestic market.Volume will be very good, according to Mast, with one of the largest crops the industry has seen. That poses a challenge, but one which sellers are well-poised to tackle.
"Since we had a fairly good bloom gap and selling window, we strive to have a manageable flow to avoid any backups and sell the entire crop in an orderly fashion," he said. "We're very optimistic about the rest of the season. It's been good so far, and we're looking to have a strong finish over the next six to eight weeks."
