Agronometrics in Charts: Quality of Washington Apples Trumping Quantity This Season
By
| 20 October 2022
In this installment of the ‘Agronometrics In Charts’ series, Sarah Ilyas studies the state of the Washington apple season. Each week the series looks at a different horticultural commodity, focusing on a specific origin or topic visualizing the market factors that are driving change.
Heat waves experienced in Washington last June disrupted bud development in certain apple varieties. Additionally, cooler weather in the spring led to poor pollination and a limited blossom-thinning window, which led to smaller fruit and lower volumes. The state’s fresh apple production is expected to be down from 120 million bushels last year to a projected 105, to maybe 110 million this year.
The Pacific Northwest is also witnessing a 10-15 day later start to its apple season following a late spring this year. This year, Michigan and New York are expecting full crops and despite the shortfall in volumes in the Pacific Northwest, total US fresh apple production is expected to be similar to last year. “The driver of the nation’s apple crop is Washington so when we have a drop in production it’s significant for fresh apple production across the country,” says Chuck Zeutenhorst of FirstFruits Farms.
Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics.
(Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)
Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics.
(Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)
Honeycrisp harvest is nearing completion and the Gala apple harvest has wrapped up. Meanwhile, harvests are currently underway for Fuji, Granny Smith and Ambrosia and have just begun for Autumn Glory, which puts it in the window for November promotions. Within the apple category, the Cosmic Crisp variety is expected to be up significantly in volume this year due to a majority of young plantings coming into production.
Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics.
(Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)
A dearth of affordable labor, cost spikes on inputs such as fuel, packaging and logistics have resulted in a reduction in orchard acreage over the past few years. A shrinking supply is strengthening demand and thereby elevating prices. As a consequence of the shortage this season, dependence on the Southern Hemisphere is likely to go up. “As for pricing, while there will be some similarities to last year’s FOBs, the shorter crop should create stronger FOB and demand,” says Zeutenhorst.
Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics.
(Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)
In our ‘In Charts’ series, we work to tell some of the stories that are moving the industry. Feel free to take a look at the other articles by clicking here.
All pricing for domestic US produce represents the spot market at Shipping Point (i.e. packing house/climate controlled warehouse, etc.). For imported fruit, the pricing data represents the spot market at Port of Entry.
You can keep track of the markets daily through Agronometrics, a data visualization tool built to help the industry make sense of the huge amounts of data that professionals need to access to make informed decisions.If you found the information and the charts from this article useful, feel free to visit us at www.agronometrics.com where you can easily access these same graphs, or explore the other 21 commodities we currently track.
Written by: Sarah Ilyas
