Supply of Gala apples from the Pacific Northwest have hung around the market longer than shippers anticipated, and that's kept prices down for imported fruit. As a result, Chilean shippers, who were anticipating an empty market by this time of year, have cut back on Gala shipments to the U.S.“People anticipated Galas from the Northwest would finish up earlier because of reports of hot weather during the growing season, which would have meant storage ability would not be very good,” explained Broc Bengard with Bengard Marketing. “Expectations were for a need for offshore Galas.”
But domestic fruit has held up well in storage, and Bengard believes larger Northwest suppliers could stick around with Galas for another couple of weeks on certain sizes. With the market still occupied with local apples, Chilean shippers have held off with their apples, and Argentine and New Zealand shippers are following suit.
“Chile is the earlier supplier, and when movement wasn't good on that early supply, you didn't have that push from Argentina and New Zealand because the Chilean fruit wasn't moving,” said Bengard.
Competition from stone fruit tends to slow apple movement during the summer months, though sales of apples fare better during this time than do sales of pears. A healthy supply of apples and early imports dropped prices, though the market shows signs of improvement.
“Prices are now stable,” said Bengard. “They were weak and going down, but now they've stabilized. A few major retailers are now switching over to the newer crop import Galas, and that will continue to happen over next two weeks. I'm optimistic about fruit moving well in general because the fruit quality from Chile has been good, and the sugars are very good this year from offshore fruit.”
For more information:
Broc Bengard
Bengard Marketing
+1 310 605 5105