Posts Tagged “apple shipments”
Washington fresh apple shipments for 2022-23 are expected to be slightly below 100 million cartons, down from 119 million cartons for the 2021-22 crop.
U.S. fresh apple inventories in storage on Dec. 1 were off 7% compared with last year and down 14% compared with the five-year average, according to a new survey from the U.S. Apple Association.
Despite a substantial reduction in crop size compared with 2021, Washington accounted for about 77% of fresh apple shipments in mid-December. Larger crops of fruit in Michigan and New York have allowed shippers in those regions to gain new customers this season.
Even so, current 2022 production is well above the 65 million boxes of fresh apples shipped in 1990.
Stemilt Growers LLC of Wenatchee, Wash. reports the 2021-22 season was a tight crop in terms of supply, and this season is even tighter.
With the shorter crop in Washington, Evans Fruit Co. of Cowiche, Wash. reports it is a little more strict than in the past. The shipper is aiming to help its loyal customers get through the season, with a supply into the summer.
A greater percentage of apple shipments may be directed to the domestic market rather than the export market because of the stronger U.S. dollar and continuing logistic problems in some countries.
Elgin, MN — Even with the challenging apple supply from Washington, this is the best Pazazz crop on record, reports Honeybear Brands. Shipments will continue throughout the winter and spring.
“Growers in the Midwest, New York, Washington and Nova Scotia harvested a beautiful Pazazz crop that will uniquely increase in brix throughout the coming months. Pazazz apples are harvested with high starch content that benefit with some time in storage, so as other apple varieties start to fade in flavor, Pazazz apples get better and better” says Don Roper, VP sales and marketing, Honeybear Brands. “In addition, our customers get the benefit of their fruit coming from closer to home, which is an important attribute.”
Growing Locations
Shoppers are aware their product choices have an impact on the environment and are more regularly seeking foods grown closer to home, when possible. The domestic Pazazz crop fits that bill with orchards and packing facilities that stretch east to west and can provide quick, packed-to-order freshness and shorter travel times.
Unique Flavor
Great flavor drives consumer purchase behavior, and this sets Pazazz apart from other apples in the marketplace. The unique flavor and balance of sweet and tangy is the biggest part of the Pazazz success. This clean and refreshing apple packs a strong crunch with a flavor that is enhanced as the season progresses.
Pazazz Boosts Moods and Brand Awareness
An apple a day keeps the blues away! Pazazz is engaged in a multipronged marketing campaign highlighting the mood boosting benefits of apples as well as the physical benefits. A swath of social media content from influencers and podcasters to giveaway sweepstakes of The Happiness Diet book are targeting consumers in markets where Pazazz is on shelf.
In February, Pazazz and The American Institute for Cancer Research will again team up with Celebrity Chef Elle Simone from America’s Test Kitchen to promote the cancer-fighting benefits of apples with unique content reaching millions of viewers via multiple media platforms and in-store assets.
About Honeybear Brands
Family owned and operated for more than forty years, Honeybear is a dual hemisphere grower, packer, shipper and importer of apples, pears and cherries year-round. A pioneer in the commercialization of Honeycrisp, the company has been an industry leader in responsible, sustainable growing practices and land stewardship for many years. Honeybear Brands is a wholly owned subsidiary of Wescott Agri Products. For more information about Honeybear, visit www.honeybearbrands.com and follow us on Facebook.
A smaller volume U.S. apple crop was generally thought heading into the 2021-22 season. Now it is becoming a bit more average entering the later part of the shipping season.
In November, the first storage report for the 2021-2022 apple crop from the U.S. Apple Association showed domestic inventories on Nov. 1 were 7.1% below the same time in 2020.
In the most recent USAppleTracker report, however, fresh apples in storage on May 1 were 41.2 million bushels cartons, 8.5% more than the inventories reported for last May but similar to the five-year average.
The report said processing holdings totaled 17 million bushels, 1% more than last year on May 1. The total number of U.S. apples in storage on May 1 was 58.2 million bushels, 6.2% more than last May’s total of 54.8 million bushels and 0.1% more than the 5-year average for that date.
Total U.S. domestic and imported apple shipments reported the week of May 1-7 were 3,018 (40,000-pound) truckloads, the USDA said, down about 3% compared with the same period a year ago. Imports, mostly from Chile, accounted for 5% of total supplies shipped up from 4% import share the same week last year.
Plenty of domestic pears remain in storages this season. There are more apples as well, but the percentage of amounts remaining pale compared to pears. The vast majority of the fruit remaining to be hauled is in the Pacific Northwest.
Pear stocks have increased significantly compared to April 2021 in the U.S., while apple stocks have also increased in the U.S., although at a slower rate.
The World Apple and Pear Association (WAPA) released its apple and pear stock figures from April 1, 2022, which showed that pear stocks increased by 45.6 percent, hitting 73,215 tons in April 2022.
In particular, Anjou and Red Anjou pears increased their stocks by 45.2 percent and 93.3 percent respectively, while Bosc pears also saw inventories grow by 15.1 percent compared to figures recorded in the same month last year.
In the U.S., apple stocks were up 4 percent on the previous year too, standing at 1,014,826 tons. Increases in supplies of varieties such as Cosmic Crisp (+290 percent), Granny Smith (+48.8 percent), and Pink Lady (+24.1 percent) balanced out the decreases detailed in other important varieties, namely Fuji (-22.7 percent) and Red Delicious (-11.3 percent).
LOCKPORT, N.Y. — Crunch Time Apple Growers, a New York State-based cooperative of 152 member growers, announced its largest anticipated crop volume of SnapDragon™ apples: 400,000 bushels, a 25 percent increase year-over-year. The sweet, crisp apples are being packed and shipped, with the first apples hitting select produce aisles now, and wider distribution expected in Q4 2021 and Q1 2022.
This harvest season will also mark the first with three new distribution partners: Applewood Fresh Growers LLC, and
Riveridge Produce Marketing, both of Sparta, MI; and Rice Fruit Company, Gardners, PA. These new packers and shippers will allow Crunch Time Apple Growers to expand its geographic reach among existing grocers and new retail partners, particularly in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic.
“While other premium apple varieties grown elsewhere in the U.S. have seen challenges, we’re seeing really good size, color and flavor as harvest begins in upstate New York,” said Jessica Wells, Crunch Time Apple Growers executive director. “After months of nurturing the crop, our growers are excited to get SnapDragon apples, with their Monster Crunch and amazing flavor, into the hands of consumers. We know from our social media channels consumers are ready too.”
“SnapDragon is a variety that changes what people think of eating apples,” said fifth-generation farmer Joel Crist of Crist Bros. Orchards Inc. and Crunch Time Apple Growers board chair. “SnapDragon has always been about elevating the consumer eating experience and driving consumption of fresh apples. It’s easy for us to understand why, in a very short period of time, SnapDragon has risen to the top of the pack.”
To demonstrate the ongoing success of SnapDragon in the premium apple category since its release in 2014, Crunch Time Apple Growers recently partnered with Category Partners, a top market analyst firm for the food and beverage industry, to study the top 10 retailers that carried SnapDragon apples during the 2020 crop year (October 2020 to June 2021), in addition to reported Nielsen data. The findings showed:
- SnapDragon was ranked the sixth most popular premium apple variety nationwide and the top premium apple grown on the East Coast.
- SnapDragon generated year-over-year volume growth in all of the top 10 retailers and was the only apple that showed growth across all retailers in the study.
- SnapDragon posted double-digit sales growth year-over-year in the East Coast market.
- SnapDragon grew seven percent overall in volume year-over-year across all markets.
- In terms of dollar growth, SnapDragon generated the 10th strongest performance among the 26 identified premium apple varieties.
The nation’s leading apple shipper, Washington state, is experiencing lower than normal exports of apples, which is resulting in more product being shipped to domestic markets.
Strong Washington State summer apple shipments indicate potentially record demand for apples that will be harvested in the coming weeks. Since June 1, Washington State apple shipments have eclipsed 2018 by a whopping 29 percent, and 2017 by 30 percent. There have been more than 10 straight weeks of +2 million-box shipments
In a typical year, roughly a third of the state’s apple crop is exported. At the end of the current shipping season, which concludes in early September, that share could be as low as 26 percent. The primary reason is the COVID-19 pandemic, which has made it difficult to predict domestic volume and exports.
Mexico and India currently are the top importers of Washington apples. But stay-at-home orders, particularly in India, where the virus has seen a surge, has kept consumers out of markets and stores and has contributed to a reduction in demand.
A record 34.1 million(42-pound) bushels of fresh market apples remained in storage to be shipped on June 1 — a 23 percent increase from a year ago.
The final MarketNews storage report of the season by the U.S. Apple Association also showed processing apples still in storage were 28 percent more than the June 1, 2019 report, with 13.8 million pounds.
At 47.9 million bushels, the overall fresh and processing apples still in storage on June 1 was a record, 24 percent over last season at the same time and 26 percent more than the five-year average.
The association will resume its monthly storage report in November, with numbers on the new crop.
Washington has 5.9 million fresh-market bushels in regular storage and 29.2 million bushels in controlled-atmosphere on June 1.
The leading fresh-market apples in storage on June 1 were:
- Red delicious: 8.3 million bushels;
- Gala: 6.7 million bushels;
- Granny smith: 5.2 million;
- Fuji: 4.7 million bushels; and
- Golden delicious: 2.8 million bushels.
There are 12 percent more fresh apples remaining in U.S. storages to be shipped this season as of February 1st than at this same time a year ago.
Fresh apples in storage across the U.S were 12% higher on Feb. 1 than a year ago, according to the U.S. Apple Association’s monthly MarketNews report.
The U.S. Apple Association reports there are 87.9 million 42-pound bushels, in storage, a little over 4 percent of the five-year fresh apple numbers.
Apples in storage for processing markets on February 1st totaled 34.9 million bushels, a 20 percent increase from the same time last season. Overall fresh/processing apples in storage February 1st were 122.8 million bushels, a 14 percent increase from the past season, and 4 percent above the five-year average.
The leading fresh variety apples, in millions of bushels, in storage February 1st were:
- Red delicious: 19.13
- Gala: 18.72
- Fuji: 11.16
- Granny smith: 11.04
- Honeycrisp: 8.32
- Golden delicious: 5.88
The availability of Cosmic Crisps dropped from 175,238 bushels to 44,762 bushels.
As of the New Year there were 14 percent more apples in the U.S. remaining to be shipped than last season.
The U.S. Apple Association of Falls Church, VA reports U.S. fresh market apples remaining in storages as of January 1st totaled 103.97 million (42-pound) bushels.
The U.S. Apple report notes the total number of apples in storage (fresh and for processing) on January 1 was 144.1 million bushels, 15 percent greater than a year ago and 3 percent above the 5-year average for that date.
Fresh apple variety holdings with percentage change from a year ago were:
- Cosmic Crisp: 175,238 bushels (first year);
- Red delicious: 22.35 million bushels, down 9 percent
- Gala: 22.2 million bushels, up 22 percent;
- Fuji: 12.7 million bushels, up 7 percent;
- Granny smith: 12.6 million bushels, up 35 percent;
- Honeycrisp: 10.32 million bushels, up 31 percent;
- Golden delicious: 6.7 million bushels, up 60 percent;
- Cripps pink/Pink Lady: 5.32 million bushels, up 14 percent.
Apple shipments for the 2019-20 season is pegged at 247.76 million (42-pound) cartons, down 2.2 percent from the USDA’s August estimate of 253.09 million cartons. This forecast by the U.S. Apple Association typically is smaller than the USDAs.
The U.S. apple estimate, which includes fruit for the fresh and processing markets, was up 1 percent from the 2018-19 crop but down 1 percent from the 5-year average.
The association presented its estimate recently at its annual Crop Outlook & Marketing Conference in Chicago.
Compared with the USDA numbers, the U.S. Apple estimate shows lower expected output in Washington, slightly higher production in New York and nearly the same estimate for Michigan.
Here are US Apple estimates and the change compared with the USDA’s August 2019 estimates:
