US: Some of this year's best Northwest cherries still to come

B. J. Thurlby, President of the Washington State Fruit Commission, says he has seen some great quality cherries on the trees recently. He says that some of the year's best cherries are still available.

The crop itself is at 20,920,611 boxes through 63 days of shipping and the industry has averaged 298,954 boxes per day over the past 7 days.

Northwest total shipments & 2012 shipped to date comparison

Thurlby says, "As a bench mark we averaged 140,000 boxes per day during this same period in 2010. Likewise, we have been shipping 95,000 more boxes per day as compared to the same seven day period in 2009. With several more weeks of shipping we have a new industry benchmark for volume, as we broke the previous volume shipping record of 20.3 million boxes (2009) on Tuesday, August 7...

Historical Northwest total shipped in August (2012 shipped to daye)

"As growers continue to harvest above estimate on late varieties ... most fieldmen feel we will harvest (at least) another 1.5 million boxes this season. Certainly, we are now on the home stretch of this crop ... which will continue to be harvested in higher elevations and later production districts through August. There will be promotable volumes of cherries for "at least" the next several weeks of harvest."

For more information please visit http www.northwestcherries.net