It might have taken a while to arrive, but the start to the Northwest cherry export season has been a strong one, with Asian markets leading the way, according to president of Northwest Cherry Growers BJ Thurlby.
“The Asian market is coming out of the blocks very quickly this season,” he told Fruitnet.com. “We have shipped almost 35 per cent of the crop there `to Asia-Pacific` so far. Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong/China have been driving worldwide demand for cherries and we’re pleased with what we have seen there.'
The Northwest cherry industry has only shipped around 1m cartons of what promises to be a 16m-plus-carton crop this year, according to Mr Thurlby. “We are two to three weeks behind ‘normal’, if there is any such a thing in the cherry business,” he said. “Many years we’d have shipped 4-5m cartons by now.”
To the surprise of many in the industry, Japan has been the pacesetter among export markets. “Japan seems uncharacteristically focused on having a big year,” said Mr Thurlby. “Both the local Japanese and Californian crops have been shortened by weather issues.”
As of 28 June, Japan had taken almost 90,000 20lb (9.1kg) cartons, according to Northwest Fruit Exporters Association, and it was closely tailed by China and Taiwan (around 70,000 cartons each), and Korea (over 60,000 cartons).
“China could be the ‘game changer’,” Mr Thurlby remarked. “They’re buying aggressively and shipments both direct to China and to Hong Kong are brisk.
“At the early point in the season the Korean market is gaining momentum with significant shipments being flown out daily,” he added. “It also appears Taiwan is poised for another 700,000-800,000-carton year.”
Australia (19,450 cartons) and New Zealand (412 cartons) had together taken a further 20,000 cartons by 28 June, bringing the total volume sent to the Asia-Pacific region to well over a third of overall shipments at this stage.
Mr Thurlby added that market feedback on the first arrivals has been positive. “Several ground buyers have mentioned that our Chelans and early Bings are as good or better than the best they saw out of California this year,” he commented.
While cautioning that fruit size would be key to maintaining a strong run in Asia through the season, Mr Thurlby noted that the signs were positive. “We’ll need some size on our cherries to maximise the Asian market, and with perfect growing conditions over the past two to three weeks we are seeing larger cherries daily,” he noted. “I was pleased to see that 10.5 row and larger overtook 11 row in terms of percentage of pack this week.”
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