Christmas Tree Supply and Demand & 2012 Agricultural Production Stats

Christmas Tree Supply and Demand & 2012 Agricultural Production Stats

I’m Lacy Gray with Washington Ag Today.

Chris Aldrich, owner of Native Northwest Company Wholesale Christmas Trees, shares what he believes will happen within the Christmas tree industry as far as supply and demand due to the recession, and growers having cut back on planting trees, which take roughly six to eight years to reach an appropriate size for harvest.

ALDRICH: I think what’s happening industry wise is that the inventory of available Christmas trees is probably gonna be going down in the next couple of years, and the demand for trees will stay the same if not increase. So really in terms of wholesale growers I think they’re going to be well positioned, if they have nice trees, and they’re gonna be able to demand a little more price on them.

Aldrich says that he foresees a possible increase in shipments of Northwest Christmas trees to the Mid-West.

ALDRICH: You know there’s been some droughts and some weather problems the last few years in the Mid-West and Texas and so some of the local growers/suppliers that go into those markets are actually hurting a little bit, and that might be a good place for people to try to market trees in the next few years. But most of my trees go into the Puget Sound area and California and Arizona.

According to the most recent NASS report Washington agricultural production in 2012 was 6% above 2011 production, reaching $9.89 billion, with apples retaining the top spot for leading ag commodity with a 2012 value of $2.25 billion, a 16% increase from 2011. Wheat was up 4% with a production value of $1.18 billion. Milk, though 9% lower in 2012 than 2011, still ranked third with a value of $1.16 billion. Potatoes were fourth with a production value of $700 million, and hay ranked fifth at $679 million.

That’s Washington Ag Today.

I’m Lacy Gray on the Ag Information Network.