California’s early outlook sees above-average cherry season

Usual start time

That said, last year also saw an earlier start to the season following a dry, warm January. This year’s potential start on April 25 would be five to seven days later or hitting a more “normal” start to the season.

On the demand side, expectations are that demand will be good and Lucich is already speaking with retailers about their upcoming California cherry plans. The challenge, he notes, will be to set cherry pricing that factors in inflation on both sides of the equation–for growers, with those increased costs and for consumers with notably tighter wallets this year.

Export also looks promising though, even with international challenges such as Chinese tariffs and an increasingly competitive Japan. “Japan used to be the king of cherries with exporting but they’ve become more price-sensitive. There’s also been a slight decline over the past few years,” he says. “However South Korea is a market that continues to grow and Canada looks good as well. Canada was about 43 percent of our export market last year. Our export total was just over 20 percent or just over a million boxes.”

With the season getting underway two months from now, the tone, for now, is cautiously optimistic. “We’re far from harvest and we still need a lot of crucial things to happen. However we’re optimistic that some of the key ingredients we need are getting met,” says Lucich.

The News in Charts is a collection of stories from the industry complemented by charts from Agronometrics to help better tell their story.

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