Apple Trade Pt 2

Apple Trade Pt 2

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with today’s Fruit Grower Report. Challenges are plentiful for Northwest apple growers, led by labor, but trade is something the industry is hoping to improve upon in the not-too-distant future.

Jim Bair, president of the USApple Association, says after losing our number 2 market with India thanks to tariffs, thank goodness for our neighbors in Mexico and Canada …

BAIR … “Absolutely! Mexico has actually been increasing and Canada has come back to its spot as the number 2 market. But we continue to try to, you know, work with the growers out here to, you know, turn over every rock that’s possible.”

But, Bair says we’re also working on reestablishing markets across the Atlantic …

BAIR … “You know, we’d like to see U.S. apples get back into an export position into Europe and the U.K. That’s not possible currently because of their rules that we think are not grounded in science, their so-called precautionary prints where pesticide residues at any level make our apples not able to be exported to those countries.”

And other markets help, Bair says, but losing India hurts …

BAIR … “Also, Japan, Taiwan, Viet Nam is a great market right now. So, we’re trying to work with the growers to, you know, improve that picture because in a so-called normal year we would export a third of the crop. That would be about a billion dollars’ worth. And that’s not happening now.”

Bair says in all, the U.S. apple industry has seen a 19% loss of exports since 2018.

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