Export Markets and Tree Fruit Pt 2
With today’s Fruit Grower Report, I’m Bob Larson. Export markets in some Asian countries are slowly reopening as they try to continue their own coronavirus recoveries.
Mark Powers, president of the Northwest Horticultural Council, says our exports of apples and pears are significant …
POWERS-5 = 10 … “Generally, around 30%. It varies year to year. I think apples are a little bit under 30% this year, but right around 30%, and that’s a big number for us.”
From a dollar’s standpoint, Powers says …
POWERS-6 = 11 … “So, we tend to be somewhere around, you know, a half a billion dollars or so combined in the tree fruit industry with all the exports, so it’s significant.”
Besides the slow reopening, Powers says there are other issues …
POWERS-7 = 12 … “Obviously, currency exchange, nobody has control over that and that’s been very difficult for our exporters. We’ve had some supply chain issues with availability of ocean containers.”
But, Powers says other shipping options are of concern too …
POWERS-8 = 10 … “One of the concerns for the cherry industry out there is we ship by air a lot, so the reduction in passenger flights a little bit concerning.”
Powers says they’ll explore all options …
POWERS-9 = 17 … “Over the years, we’ve built up the capacity of freighters, so to some of our major markets like China and Taiwan and South Korea, you know, there’s good freighter service availabilities so it isn’t completely reliant on passenger planes, but we’ll see.”
An average of 12-billion apples are harvested in Washington state every year and are the largest agricultural product grown in the state.
