Russian Apple market

Russian Apple Market. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

Recently a delegation from the Washington fruit industry visited Russia to see what the export market was like according to Washington Apple Commission President, Todd Fryhover.

FRYHOVER: We traveled as a group to Russia and had the opportunity to meet with several importers as well as interact with retailers and look at Washington apples that were on display and what we found was at retail there was a tremendous opportunity for Washington apples. All the retailers wanted more, more, more as supplies were very limited.

The main reason there are limited supplies is due to the economic situation that exists in Russia much the same as in the U.S.

FRYHOVER: They’ve had a considerable devaluation of the ruble and the shrinking middle class is trading down to other apple commodities. But there is a lot of promise it looks ahead towards Russia. You know the first thing is of course Russia is the largest consumer of apples in the world.

While the Russian consumer likes Washington apples there are some other challenges.

FRYHOVER: Their proximity is located right next to Poland and Poland is the largest producer of apples of the EU 27 so there’s plenty of apples that go into Russia at a much less expensive price point than Washington has.

In the Northwest Fryhover says we still need to sell more apples as the estimate is about an additional 12 million boxes left to move.

That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.