About 106 million bushels of U.S.-grown fresh market apples had yet to be shipped on Dec. 1, 3% more than last year at the same time.
The December holdings total also was 8% above the five-year average, according to the December Market News report from the Vienna, Va.-based U.S. Apple Association.
Washington accounted for about 87 million bushels of the Dec. 1 total, according to the report. About 7.5 million bushels in Michigan, 6.1 million bushels in New York and 1.5 million bushels in Pennsylvania had yet to ship.
December holdings of red delicious, fujis, golden delicious and Cripps Pink (some branded as Pink Lady) were down from 2012.
Reds fell from 34 million to 32 million bushels; fujis from 17 million to 11.4 million bushels; golden delicious from 11 million to 9.7 million bushels; and Cripps Pink from 3.3 million to 3.2 million bushels.
Holdings of galas and granny smith were up from the previous year. Galas jumped from 17.6 million to 18.4 million bushels, granny smiths from 10.8 to 13 million bushels.
