This year's Washington apple crop is expected to be larger than last season's, and movement of available apples has been smooth. Quality and sizing is also looking better this season.
“It was probably a little warm this season, so the fruit was ready about a week earlier than normal, but this is a good year in terms of heat,” said Dave Henze with the Holtzinger Fruit Company. Last year's crop was hampered by a lack of water as well as high temperatures, but a favorable growing season has brought on good sizes and excellent quality.
“The fruit looks very good and is skewing larger, so we expect a larger yield,” said Henze. “There are high-density plantings which are coming on, there's better quality fruit and larger sizes also help to bring up the number of boxes packed.” At about 135 million boxes, this year's crop could best 2015's production by up to 20 million boxes. Though a larger crop can be more difficult to move, sales have been steady for this first month of the season.
“Demand seems to be good, and it's probably driven by the Honeycrisp, which has demand that keeps growing,” said Henze. “Organic demand is huge, and we are currently selling all that we're packing.”
On August 26, USDA market reports listed demand as moderate for Red Delicious apples and fairly good for Galas. Prices for a carton of Red Delicious 72s were between $18.00 and $20.90, and prices for a carton of Gala 56s through 88s were between $26.00 and $27.90.
“Prices started out about the same as where they were last year,” said Henze. “There were some Red Delicious apples in storage, but the overall pipeline was kind of empty.”
