Harvest is well underway on Pennsylvania's strong apple crop. "The weather over the past two weeks has been cool at night, with moderate heat during the day. So we're getting the great color to finish some of the varieties. That heat during the day is also bringing on that sugar and flavor," says Brandon Ruppert of Cohen Produce Marketing.
The crop overall is expected to be greater in volume over last year, though that's also attributed to the fact that last year there was damage from spring frost and low temperature issues along with drought in the summer. "We are still right around, if not slightly below, our five-year average," he adds.
On varieties, Red Delicious may be down little more than usual while Galas should be up more than usual. "Everything else, give or take a few percentages here and there, will be right around their normal averages," says Ruppert. Right now, the company is picking Galas and finishing up picking its Ginger Golds which will lead into the start of picking Golden Delicious. "We have picked through some of the early Honeycrisp and we're just waiting for the bulk of that harvest to get started," he says. It had also started picking September Wonder Fujis though that variety often gaps slightly so growers are waiting until the bulk of that variety comes on.
© Cohen Produce Marketing
Demand starting out strong
As for demand, it is strong at the retail level, particularly so given some early varieties finished earlier last season which left some gaps in volume. Pennsylvania retailers are also embracing local apples which in turn has fueled demand for local fruit.
The company also exports from the East Coast given its proximity to the Eastern ports and last year, there was a reduction in export demand. "We didn't have the volume to support what the international markets wanted and there was also a lot of competition from Europe on pricing in many markets." Exporting is anticipated to resume again this month with volume by the middle to the end of September with export demand strengthening ahead of the holidays.
On pricing, the Eastern apple industry continues to advocate for good pricing to support apple growers and help them remain competitive against large growing regions such as Washington. What growers and shippers are particularly watching though this season is Honeycrisp pricing. "Pricing is strong on core varieties but the wildcard will be Honeycrisp," says Ruppert. "There is a big volume of Honeycrisp across the country this year and we're all waiting to see what happens. We're expecting Honeycrisp to start to fall so that they can get aggressive and push the volume, though we're hoping that that price stays elevated as long as it can."
For more information:
Brandon Ruppert
Cohen Produce Marketing
Tel: +1 (717) 975-9111
[email protected]
http://www.cohenproduce.com/
