Winter apples are primed for promotion
From
| 13 January 2023
Overview of apples from Washington in the U.S. market, complemented by charts from Agronometrics. Original published on January 12, 2023.
The festive lights have lost their twinkle and the eggnog is expired, mid-winter is here, and with it an invitation to slow down and hibernate — that is, unless you’re in the business of apples. Yes, winter apples are here, and whether it’s a bumper crop or if a growing region is down a bit, apples are on the move.
News out of the Northwest from Washington state is exactly that. “Mother nature dealt growers a shorter crop this year, that’s the reality,” said Brianna Shales, marketing director at Stemilt Growers. “But, shorter years present good opportunities to help retailers align plans with varieties that are growing in volume, and increase awareness among consumers.”
Even with the Washington dip, December storage report showing 100 million box crop, with most varieties down 15 percent from last year. Washington shippers see robust promotion as a means to narrow the gap.
Catherine Gipe-Stewart, director of marketing at Superfresh Growers in Yakima, WA, emphasized the value to remain dynamic and responsive. “We have truly appreciated retailers’ willingness to be flexible to take advantage of what this year’s crop has given us,” she said. “We still have good volume, it just may be that a different variety or size is more promotable than it had been in previous years.”
Notably, Cosmic Crisp finished No. 8 in its first full year of sales. The industry moved 38.7 million pounds of fruit, averaging $2.32 per pound. “An Incredible finish for the third year of sales, and the first time it was sold a full 12 months,” said Gipe-Stewart.
Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics.
(Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)
Honeybear Brands of Elgin, MN, talked up growth with its premium variety, the Pazazz apple. Don Roper, vice president of sales and marketing at Honeybear Brands said, “We have a nice crop of Pazazz coming along, our largest crop yet.” Roper noted, that Pazazz has gained good acceptance at retail and at the national level. Kristi Harris, director of marketing at Honeybear, leveraged the company’s commitment to environmental stewardship with benchmark updates on its annual sustainability report.
FirstFruits Farms of Prescott, WA, is driving the dialog between data science and apple sales, with the company’s newly formed Data Science Center of Excellence. Sara Palmisano, East Coast business development manager explained the process as a “start-to-finish cycle, pre-harvest to peak we follow our fruit through the whole system setting up our business development team to craft tailored plans for each retail partner. Our live data allows us to be responsive to promotional opportunities and challenges within the market.”
Jessica Wells, executive director at Crunch Time Apple Growers of Lockport, NY, said New York volume is up, including volume on its exclusive offering, Ruby Frost. “We had a pretty good year all around for growing apples. With the right amount of rain at the right time, the year has been pretty close to ideal circumstances. Our apples look great, they’re sized right, and the quality and volume are high.”
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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