By Northwest Cherries Growers
Through June 22nd, the Northwest cherry industry has shipped just over 9 million 20-pound boxes. Despite many growers picking out light on all varieties up to this point, current shipments put the total crop on a path to finish June close to the pre-season industry estimate. The first Skeenas and Lapins have shipped.
We look forward to getting into more varieties coming into production, as we climb out of the projected dip in variety availability. We expect solid picking to continue in earnest for at least the next 2 weeks, with many later growers continuing even after that point.
The Rainier crop has shipped about 1 million boxes shipped to date. At 8 percent of the total shipped crop to date, that puts the 2015 yellow cherry crop in line with historical percentages despite the fact that we’ve shipped 450,000 more boxes to date than last year’s previous record. That’s an 89% increase year over year in this window. For the yellow cherries increased to 2,480 stores this week, from comparatively none the week prior and even fewer (100) the past year.
The Yakima and Wenatchee Valleys combined have been averaging about 1250 truck loads of cherries per week, although volume is expected to decline a little this week.
Washington cherries, apples and pears – grossing about $3150 to Atlanta.