U.S. fresh market apples remaining to be shipped are double digit over last season and 97 percent of those apples for hauling are located in three states.
U.S. fresh market apples remaining to be shipped on February 1st were 13 percent higher compared with the 2015-16 shipping season and 9 percent more than the five-year average, according to the February storage report from the U.S. Apple Association. The leading varieties remaining to be shipped are red delicious and gala.
Total fresh market apples remaining to be shipped were 85.7 million bushels, up from 76 million bushels in 2016, but lower than 95.1 million bushels two years ago.
Washington state reported holdings of 76.4 million bushels, or about 89 percent of the total national fresh holdings. Michigan apples remaining to be shipped totaled 4.1 million bushels, or about 5 percent of the remaining supplies. New York’s apple inventories were 2.9 million bushels, or 3 percent of the U.S. total fresh market apples in storage on February 1st.
By variety, the storage report showed that fresh market red delicious holdings were 28.2 million bushels, up from 21.5 million bushels last year but down from 33.8 million bushels two years ago. Gala inventories on hand totaled 16.1 million bushels, up from 12.2 million bushels a year ago and 15.95 million bushels in 2015.
Other fresh market apples remaining in storage 1 were:
- Pink Lady/cripps pink: 4.4 million bushels, up from 3.7 million bushels last year;
- Fuji: 9.3 million bushels, up from 8 million bushels a year ago;
- Golden delicious: 5.3 million bushels, compared with 6 million bushels in 2016;
- Granny smith: 8.4 million bushels, compared with 10.9 million bushels last year; and
- Honeycrisp: 3.2 million bushels, compared with 2.9 million bushels a year ago.
Yakima and Wenatchee Valley, WA apples and pears – grossing about $4500 to Dallas and $6400 to Boston.
Western Michigan apples – grossing about$900 to Chicago and $2700 to Atlanta.