Processing demand continues to pressure the East Coast apple market. "The Michigan apple market has been very active. It's been that way for several months now so that's depleting inventory faster than expected," says Tyler Hodges of Superior Sales, Inc. "We're trying to manage inventories to continue our programs as long as possible."
While this year's crop size on Michigan apples was average, what was unexpected was strong processing demand. "A lot of that is coming from fruit that normally comes into our market from China for juice. It's now tariffed so that has affected the processing market to the U.S.' advantage," says Hodges, noting that processors who were buying heavily from China for juice are now buying heavily from the United States.
© Superior Sales, Inc.
In turn, that has depleted a lot of the varieties more quickly than expected. For Superior Sales, its biggest varieties are Gala Fuji, Red Delicious, Gold Delicious and Honeycrisp.
Meanwhile, demand is also up from years past for Michigan apples. The company's largest customer base is foodservice with schools and institutions and it's hoping to go into early summer and get through the school year. "In turn, even though we're fielding calls regularly for fruit, we're not taking on new business at this time in order to serve our existing customer base," says Hodges.
PNW pack-out rates
Part of the reason demand could be stronger in Michigan is also the state of the Pacific Northwest apple supply. "There are some internal defects coming out of Washington and that is lowering the pack-out percentages in the packing houses in the Northwest. That means a lot of that business that's usually out west is coming into this region," says Hodges.
All of this is leaving pricing stronger than this time last year and with that high demand expected to continue, prices could also keep moving upward. "A number of shippers are very concerned about covering contract business into the spring, not to mention summer," adds Hodges.
© Superior Sales, Inc.
As a Michigan-based company headquartered in Hudsonville, the company ships all things Michigan, with apples and root vegetables as a large part of its winter business. It also focuses on setting up its upcoming local seasons with Michigan asparagus kicking off the spring/summer crops–that is set to begin in May.
"We're also gearing up for SEPC being our biggest show," says Hodges. "We exhibit there every year and that is a great event that allows us to visit with our customers as we look into 2026 together." The company will be exhibiting at booth #205.
For more information:
Tyler Hodges
Superior Sales, Inc.
Tel: +1 (616) 896-6500 ext 117
www.superior-sales.com
