Industry experts are expecting a record packout for California cherries this year. After trending in the 3-6m carton range for much of the last decade, California cherry shipments suddenly surged to 7.5m cartons (8.2kg) in 2007 and topped 8.6m cartons a year later. With the exception of the weather-plagued 2011 season, the California cherry industry has been hovering in the 8-9m carton range ever since.
“There’s no way we’ll pack (as an industry) 12m cartons this year,” Mark Calder of Primavera Marketing told Asiafruit. “It wouldn’t surprise me to see it be a record packout, however – possibly 9m plus.”
A lighter set for the Bing variety in the northern growing regions is the main reason the 2013 California cherry production will remain moderate for at least another season.
The California industry rode a production roller coaster during 2012 as packout in the southern growing districts for both Brooks and Tulare fell by nearly 50 per cent from the previous season to just under 1.46m cartons.Volatile spring weather and poor pollinating conditions were thought to be the likely cause.
Japan continues to be the largest offshore market for California cherries, importing nearly 822,000 cartons during the 2012 season. That was a drop of approximately 6 per cent from 2011 – well below the record season of 1.37m cartons set in 2001.
Japan’s cherry imports from California actually exceeded 1m cartons for the next three seasons but has averaged approximately 785,000 cartons per season ever since. A stagnant economy and the trend by Japanese retailers to feature smaller-sized, less expensive fruit for attractive price points are thought by many industry observers to have hurt consumer demand.
The new free trade agreement with the US is believed to have been the cause for imports of California cherries to surge by 85 per cent to more than 360,000 cartons during 2012. Shipments to China and Hong Kong also increased substantially, growing by more than 10 per cent to 236,500 cartons. Taiwan’s imports fell by 3 per cent to just under 144,000 cartons last season.
