The US Northwest Cherry business has reached the 'second peak' of its 2017 season, with the industry shipping 18.49m 20lb-equivalent boxes so far, 10.6m of which have been shipped in July.
The July daily average has so far been 536,392 boxes per day, which surpasses all past seasons within the same date range, the industry revealed.
If the weather stays true, the Northwest industry has a chance to surpass this season’s round 4 estimate of 25m boxes, Northwest Cherry Growers confirmed.
Industry experts are citing perfect production weather for the potential record crop, exemplified in the fact that the Northwest has not seen any rain in nearly 30 days.
In terms of overseas markets, China and South Korea lead the world in Northwest cherry consumption.
Northwest Cherry Growers noted that air and water shipments had delivered 'outstanding quality product' to over 25 markets to date, with the group expecting export market arrivals to remain active into early September.
