Supply of Washington's earlier apple varieties like Honeycrisp and Gala are lower compared to last season. A hot summer affected yields and quality, reducing packout rates. Given the situation of oversupply and low pricing during the 2023/2024 season, the lower production numbers came as a relief to growers. However, great weather conditions in the final part of the growing season turned the situation around for some of the later harvesting varieties, producing more volume than initially anticipated. "As a result of excellent weather conditions, later varieties like Granny Smith, Fuji, Pink Lady, and Cosmic Crisp held on to the tree, continued to grow and color very well," says Dan Davis with L&M Companies. All of these varieties experienced robust crops and present great retail opportunity for the months to come.
Pricing
What is concerning is that the later varieties make up about 60 percent of Washington's total apple volume. Their higher yields are having a significant impact on overall production volume. At this very moment, growers are fortunate to receive higher prices for their early apple varieties compared to last season. While these prices are not high enough to offset the loss in yields, there are concerns they are at a level where they inhibit some of the movement. "We're having conversations with retailers on how to appropriately price apples to ensure they keep moving. It's important to incentivize people to pick up apples instead of other produce items in the store" commented Davis.
Demand
Did the Thanksgiving pull give the apple industry a boost? "Movement was good, but we would have liked for it to be more brisk," he said. "Thanksgiving was so late in November this year that it provided us with bit of a dead week of sales. We hope to get back on track this week." Exports have been able to pick up some of the slack, but there are healthy concerns in view of potential tariffs. "When some of the former add-on tariffs came off, we regained access to certain markets like India and the industry is now rebuilding export volumes." Some varieties like Red Delicious are less favored in the domestic market, but popular with consumers in other parts of the world. "It is huge to have these export markets as they offer great potential," Davis mentioned. However, it is uncertain what will happen in January when president-elect Trump takes office. If tariffs were to be (re-)installed, they could potentially do a lot of damage. Not only are exports to Asia critical for the U.S. industry, Latin America is also a key market. "Mexico is one of our primary trading partners and right now, we currently enjoy good access to this market."
Team members of L&M Companies at IFPA's Global Produce & Floral Show in Atlanta. Dan Davis is pictured on the left.
Dan Davis recently joined L&M Companies as Director of Sales & Operations. He will continue to be based in Yakima, WA.
For more information:
Dan Davis
L&M Companies
Tel: (+1) 509-225-2610
[email protected]
www.lmcompanies.com