Apples Oversupply Pt 1
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with today’s Fruit Grower Report. The volume and quality of our last apple harvest was outstanding nationwide. But now it’s a matter of finding enough consumers to buy them.
Chris Gerlach, Director of Industry Analytics at the US Apple Association, says we’ve got a lot of apples …
GERLACH … “We had a big year this year. According to my records, this is the largest November holdings. So, I start my holdings report, my storage report, in November and
I run it through June for the nation.”
Gerlach compares this year to the 2014-15 season …
GERLACH … “We had a higher fresh number in 2014-2015, which is interesting but with total processing this year it made our November storage volume the highest ever. So, it’s a big year.”
But, Gerlach says exports are now the biggest challenge …
GERLACH … “How were we getting rid of our apples before, and I sort of backed out exports and said to the crew, you know, this is what the export scene looked like in 14-15 and we’re probably nowhere close to that now. So, we’ve got to rely on domestic demand, or we’ve got to lower prices to move volume.”
And, Gerlach says it can be frustrating …
GERLACH … “Folks have a lot of apples. The export markets aren’t there to take that. I don’t know that domestic demand is at its former pricing levels was doing it. I don’t know if they’re moving the volume they need to.”
Tune in tomorrow for more on the apple oversupply and our direction in the months ahead.
