Supply and Demand

There’s a shortage of apples this year practically everywhere but here in Washington state. Michigan, New York, and even Mexico, Canada, and Europe are all facing a large shortage of fruit. Washington, on the other hand, has had potentially the largest apple crop ever this year, with large high quality fruit. In fact, due to the shortages in other apple growing regions, Dan Kelly with the Washington Growers Clearing House reports that Washington is up 40% in export shipments over last year at this same time. The large crop this year plus record high shipments is a good thing, but the shortages elsewhere also mean this year’s apple crop could disappear real fast.

KELLY: Oh, yeah, yeah, and that’s something the industry is going to have to be careful with as far as your main customers is that we don’t sell off too fast, because you’ve got to cover them year round. I mean the Walmarts, and the Safeways, and the Fred Meyer’s and those guys, you know they rely on the product twelve months a year, so we can’t just start blowing it out and not cover the main guys. And most likely that wouldn’t happen anyway, but there could be that potential.

As far as what’s left in storage from last year, Kelly says that stuff is gone and has been for about two weeks. Washington apple growers are expecting good prices on both the domestic and international markets. The number one export destination for Washington apples is Mexico, followed closely by Canada. The demand for Washington apples for processing is also up due to low harvests on the East Coast and in the Midwest.

I’m Lacy Gray and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Ag Information Network.