The cherry season in the Pacific Northwest has produced high-quality cherries this season, and that's been one of the reasons for brisk movement this summer. As production winds down, demand is still strong, and consumers are trying to take advantage of the last bits of fruit for the season.“Quality of fruit this year was really good because we had such a nice, warm spring with virtually no frost,” said Mac Riggan with Chelan Fresh Marketing in Chelan, Washington. “We had some rain events, but nothing as serious as we had the year before. We had very few days with really high temperatures in July and it cooled down in the evenings, which does a lot of good for cherries.” Early estimates put this year's Washington cherry crop at about 20 million cartons, and Riggan thinks this year's final haul will amount to about 21 million boxes. That's partly due to very clean packouts.
Pricing was strong at the beginning of the season and leveled off when supplies increased. Now that production is winding down, the market is moving back up. Riggan attributes strong demand partly to the exceptional quality of cherries this year, adding that cherries remain one of the truly seasonal purchases in North America.
“The British Columbia crop is right on top of us this year, so after we're done there won't be many more cherries available,” he said. “I think everything will be shipped by mid-August, and I think we'll leave the customer wanting more.
On August 1, prices for an 18-pound carton of 9-row sweetheart cherries from Washington were between $60.00 and $64.90, and prices for a carton of 10-row cherries were between $58.00 and $60.90.
For more information:
Mac Riggan
Chelan Fresh Marketing
+1 509 682 4252