U.S. Apple Movement
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with today’s Fruit Grower Report. Following two years of above-average production, U.S. apples are expecting another pretty good year, with Washington doing it’s share of the lifting.
Chris Gerlach, USApple Vice President of Insights and Analytics, says the 2025/26 U.S. apples are moving to market well …
GERLACH … “At this point, it’s looking a lot like last year’s crop and last year’s crop is cleaning up really nicely. I’ve looked at those movement numbers, and we do not have a lot of apples left over that are hanging over from last season’s market, as you know. Our storage protocols are getting pretty, pretty sophisticated. We can store apples for 12 months or more now.”
That really helps, Gerlach says when it comes to year-round availability …
GERLACH … “Preliminary analysis of some of that movement data from USDA indicates that this November was maybe, I think it’s going to be called maybe the best movement, month of movement in the history of my data set.”
And exports, Gerlach says have really helped …
GERLACH … “Part of that is driven by exports. Exports were up dramatically in November, largely driven by Washington. Washington is the vast majority of U.S. fresh apple exports. And so that November movement figure was significant and a lot of that went to exports.”
Gerlach says the U.S. grows the best apples in the world, and this year we will certainly have plenty for domestic and global consumption.
