While the Washington State bumper apple harvest is nearly finished, a monster sized crop may be getting even bigger – increasing your loading opportunities for the season.
The initial estimate for Washington apple shipments was about 140 million boxes, however, some growers believe it could now hit 150 million boxes.
In fact, the Washington apple crop is so huge some growers are already mentioning sending some of the fruit originally intended for the fresh market, to the processed market, or being used for cow feed. We expect to hear this talk coming from Idaho potato farmers, who are notorious for over production, but not the apple folks!
There also are concerns by apple growers and shippers about the availability of transportation in the midst of large volumes.
One shipper recently stated, “We have needed almost 300-400 more trucks each week out of the state of Washington to deliver this product. And that’s been difficult especially this time of year as the Northwest begins shipping Christmas trees, so trucks are much more difficult to obtain.”
Under these circumstance one would expect produce freight rates for apple hauls to be stronger this year – something we will find out in the weeks and months ahead.
Washington state apples from the Yakima and Wenatchee Valleys – grossing about $6800 to Orlando.