December 25, 2015
CapitalPress.com
13
Apples
Wash. apple volume, prices improving
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
YAKIMA, Wash. — Wash-
ington’s 2015 fresh apple crop
has bounced back slightly in
total volume and movement
and prices are good.
The crop was pegged at
118.5 million, 40-pound box-
es on Dec. 1 by the Washing-
ton State Tree Fruit Associa-
tion. The association receives
monthly reports from shippers
on what’s been sold since the
Sept. 1 start of the season and
how much is left in storage
that they believe will be fresh
packed versus culled for juic-
ing, sauce, baking ingredients
or discard.
The estimate is up from
116.2 million a month earli-
er but well below the Aug. 1
forecast of 125.2 million and
the record 2014 crop of 141.8
million.
“It’s not unusual to have
small changes,” said Jon DeV-
aney, association president.
Often they occur as pack-
out estimates vary but the in-
crease from November to De-
cember may have been caused
by companies being too cau-
tious at the end of October in
estimating how much was left
to pick in the final few days
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Adelaida Mendez sorts Fuji apples at Washington Fruit & Produce Co. in Yakima, Wash., on Dec. 8.
Fuji shipments are heavy into Taiwan this time of year.
of picking, DeVaney said.
About 1 million boxes of the
increase was in Cripps Pink,
one of the last varieties to be
harvested into early Novem-
ber, he said.
The total Cripps Pink crop
is estimated at 5.5 million box-
es for the season.
Red Delicious is up 757,000
boxes to 29.4 million; Gala is
at 25.3 million; Granny Smith
is up 183,000 to 18.3 million;
Fuji is up 465,000 to 15.9
million; Golden Delicious is
8.6 million; Honeycrisp is 7.3
million; and other varieties
trail.
Reds are down 13 million
boxes from 43 million for
2014, which is a good thing
in the long run for greater va-
rietal diversity for marketing
but bad in the short-term, ana-
lyst Desmond O’Rourke said.
There will be fewer to export.
A lot of overseas customers
who bought a lot of quality
Reds last season at low prices
will have fewer at higher pric-
es this season, he said.
They may be down be-
cause of alternate bearing,
heat and growers yanking
them to plant other varieties,
he said.
Reds have dominated the
industry for 80 years but prob-
ably will be surpassed by Gala
soon, O’Rourke said.
Movement is strong at 25.4
percent of the crop sold as of
Dec. 1 compared with just
under 25 percent at the same
time the last two years, DeV-
aney said. Slightly more than
30 million boxes have been
shipped as of Dec. 1, he said.
An earlier start to harvest
in August combined with a
little more carryover of the
prior year’s crop held down
prices early on but now prices
are headed up, DeVaney said.
The average of all varieties
is about $24 per box, which is
good and slowly rising, O’Ro-
urke said.
“They should be much
stronger given how little there
is yet to be sold and they will
improve as retailers realize
what’s left is way down com-
pared to last year,” he said.
Too many apples tumbled
prices to below break-even a
year ago.
The slow start on prices
and damage to prices from
small fruit and odd maturity
on early Gala from excessive
heat in June will not be a sig-
nificant impact to the overall
season, O’Rourke said.
A large amount of
heat-damaged fruit was culled
early on, reflected in the drop
between the Aug. 1 forecast
and Oct. 1 storage report,
DeVaney said. Some fruit was
sold quickly to avoid storage
problems, he said.
“We don’t see any problem
marketing the crop. Prices are
excellent,” said Mark Zirkle,
president of Zirkle and Rain-
ier Fruit companies in Selah.
Domestic marketing is
going very smoothly while
exports are hampered by the
strong dollar, he said.
The average asking price
on extra-fancy grade, size 88
Gala was $30 to $32.90 per
box on Dec. 8, according to
USDA Market News. That
was up from $26 to $28.90
a month earlier. Extra-fancy,
size 88 Red Delicious stayed
the same at $16 to $18.69.
Nationally, the U.S. Apple
Association reported 148.2
million boxes in storage on
Dec. 1, down 16 percent from
last December and with 106.3
million of that being fresh
market and 41.9 million for
processing for juice, sauce
and baked ingredients.
Smaller crop, strong dollar reduce apple exports
at West Coast ports hindered
sales.
This year, for the first time
China is open to all U.S. va-
rieties. Costs are more stable
and lower with a 23 percent
duty and 13 percent value add-
ed tax than they were through
the “gray market” through
Hong Kong, Fryhover said.
He anticipates sales will
reach slightly under 2 mil-
lion boxes this season but will
grow in ensuing years with
larger Washington crops.
E-commerce or online
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
WENATCHEE, Wash. —
A smaller crop and stronger
dollar have reduced Washing-
ton apple exports 28 percent
as of Dec. 1 compared with
the same time a year ago.
“We have a huge differ-
ence in crop volumes. It’s
hard to compare the two years
when they are so vastly dif-
ferent,” said Todd Fryhover,
president of the Washington
Apple Commission, which
promotes industry exports.
The 2015 Washington ap-
ple crop is currently estimat-
ed at 118.5 million, 40-pound
boxes compared with a record
141.8 million that were sold
from the 2014 crop.
“The domestic market is
No. 1 and the industry will
take care of that demand and
we will work diligently to
keep our export customers
happy until we have more
volume for them next year,”
Fryhover said.
Another factor reducing
exports is the growth of new
club and managed varieties
that mainly sell domestically,
he said.
The industry rule of thumb
is that 30 percent of the vol-
ume is exported. It may be
closer to 20 to 15 percent this
season, he said.
From Sept. 1 through Dec.
1, 7.8 million boxes of Wash-
ington apples were exported,
down 28.2 percent from 10.9
sales is a growing trend for all
sorts of goods in China. Fry-
hover said he and commis-
sion members Jon Alegria,
president of CPC Interna-
tional Apple Co., and Chelan
grower Dave Robison met
with importers, retailers and
e-commerce sales organiza-
tions in a November trip to
China. About 10,000 boxes
of Washington apples were
sold online in China in a sin-
gle day on “Singles Day” or
“1111,” on Nov. 11, a sales
day akin to the U.S. Black
Friday, he said.
The commission will
spend $7 million to $8 million
on export promotions this sea-
son with 38 percent of that in
Southeast Asia, 19 percent in
Mexico, 18 percent in India
and 13 percent in China, he
said.
Fryhover said at the time
he was concerned about Can-
ada and Mexico imposing
tariffs on Washington apples
because of the U.S. country of
origin labeling law, but Con-
gress repealed it last week.
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Fuji apples bound for Taiwan feed into the front end of Washington
Fruit & Produce Co.’s new apple packing line in Yakima, Wash., on
Dec. 8. It’s heavy shipment time to Taiwan but exports overall are
down because of a smaller crop and the strong U.S. dollar.
million for the same period a
year ago, Fryhover said.
This year’s statistics are
closer to two years ago when
8.4 million had been exported
by Dec. 1 out of a 115-mil-
lion-box crop.
The largest export market,
Mexico, is off 38 percent and
the second largest, Canada, is
down 26 percent so far this
season, he said.
“Both are apple producers
so that makes our early sales
there slow and our smaller
crop and higher-value dollar
don’t play into our favor,” he
said.
About 1.5 million boxes
have been shipped to Mexico
season-to-date, 1.2 million to
Canada and 1.5 million to Tai-
wan, he said.
That rate is on target, giv-
en the size of the Washington
crop, he said.
Washington exported 48.7
million boxes of apples from
the 2014 crop. Exports like-
ly will be 30 million to 35
million boxes from the 2015
crop, Fryhover said.
China has bought 447,000
boxes of Washington apples
so far this year compared to
24,000 a year ago. Closure
of the market until Oct. 30
followed by labor disruptions
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