Through the new year, apple growers in Washington have shipped about the same percentage of their crop as they had at the same point last season, but the big difference this year has been the actual volume of apples that have been shipped. A large crop, which might make for a slow market in normal years, has been well-met with robust domestic demand.
“Through the end of December, the industry has shipped about one-third of this year's apples, the same percentage as last year” said Howard Nager, vice president of marketing for Domex Superfresh Growers in Yakima, Washington. “But we've shipped 6 million more boxes of apples this year.” He cited a large crop coupled with strong demand as reasons for the quick movement of this year's crop.
“There have been shortfalls in other growing areas that have made for good demand,” explained Nager. “So the market's been great, and a large crop has allowed supplies to keep up with demand.” He added that fruit sizes have been on the larger side, with sizes 80 and larger being the most prevalent. That's meant that smaller apples, which typically go to markets that are more price-conscious, are in shorter supply.
“Bigger, high-quality fruit is in good supply,” he said.
Despite shortages in other apple-growing regions, Nager was confident that this year's supplies would be enough to meet increased demand. That's due to the good year the state's growers have had, with an estimated 130 million box crop this season that's expected to be almost 20 percent larger than last season's yield.
“We have about 6 million more boxes of Fuji apples this year,” he said. “That's almost 50 percent more than we had last year, so that should be good for consumers who will be able to get good deals on that variety.”
Demand has been robust this year, but it's been partly due to abnormally low yields in other states, so it's not certain that Washington's growers will enjoy such high levels of domestic demand every year. With that in mind, Nager noted that most apple growers are really looking to the export market as a driver of new sales.
“We're seeing that, from a consumptions standpoint, domestic demand is flat,” he said. “So in order to grow, we're looking at exports.” Russia, Brazil, India and China are all attractive markets, though they all pose unique challenges that must be handled. For now, Nager said Mexico has been good for exports.
“We saw a large increase in our exports to Mexico last year when tariffs and duties were reduced,” he said. When those challenges are met, markets can be opened up.
“Every country has its own issue,” said Nager. “But there's been a steady increase in companies doing business overseas, and I think that will continue going forward.”
For more information:
Howard Nager
Domex Superfresh Growers
+1 509 966 1814