US trade media reports suggests that the Washington apple crop could end the season very close to the record fresh production levels of 2000-01.
The state’s apple harvest is a couple of weeks from its end. And in the last few weeks volumes picked have risen by around 10 per cent, largely due to bigger than expected average fruit size.
Pre-season shipper forecasts were put at 88.4 million cartons for the fresh market, but there are now indications that the final output could be around the 98m carton peak of four season ago.
“It is definitely above where our original estimate was, and the fruit size is a little larger so bin counts are up,” Frank Davis of Borton & Sons told The Packer. “We’ve still got to work through our conversion from bins to boxes, but I think it’s up 10 per cent.”
As distributors move into the storage season with volumes in excess of previous years, there is optimism that prices in the domestic and international markets will hold up and produce a successful season all round.
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