Washington Apples to Asian Markets
From the Western Ag Network, I’m Bob Larson with today’s Fruit Grower Report. About 30% of Washington's apple crop is exported each year, with Asian countries making up the most significant regional destination.
But with trade and tariffs making up so much of the news lately, Michael Schadler, president of the Washington Apple Commission, says there’s a lot of uncertainty out there …
SCHADLER … “From the practical matter, there hasn’t been a whole lot of change in the tariff situation. I mean, there’s the long-term retaliatory tariffs from China that have been in place for a while. That hasn’t changed. You know, there’s the possibility, I guess, that Chinese President Xi is going to be meeting with Trump, so everybody’s, I mean, wondering if maybe a deal will get made that could potentially alleviate those retaliatory tariffs on a variety of products including ours, apples.”
And China, Schadler says has become a smaller market for apples …
SCHADLER … “I mean, I said to someone the other day that we ship more apples to Honduras now than we do to China. If you include Hong Kong in there, Hong Kong’s still a pretty good market for us. But, yeah, China outside of some niches is just not really a big factor for us anymore. Hopefully that changes.”
But China isn’t the only challenge out there …
SCHADLER … “Other opportunities would be India. So, it’s not a retaliatory tariff, it’s just a big tariff that’s always been in place in India. If a trade deal is announced, as it looks like it could be in the coming months or coming year, that would certainly be favorable for the apple industry, assuming apples is included.”
Schadler says recent deals with Taiwan and Indonesia could also be good for Washington apples.
