The season's first apple forecast for Washington State in the US has been estimated at over 98.2m boxes for the fresh produce market, according to directors at the Washington State Apple Commission (WAC).
An accurate projection means that the crop will almost match the previous year's total, which amounted to 98.3m boxes, the Yakima Herald reported.
WAC president Dave Carlson said that the commissioners felt the harvest would be down slightly on 2007 because of frosts earlier in the year. Average fruit size will also be reduced, he said, with fruit development delayed due to the cool spring weather.
Mr Carlson also revealed that the WAC had received financial support from a federal government programme, set up to help improve domestic industries' market their products in other countries.
'We are looking at a very good marketing year and hope the export markets will shine with a tremendous amount of demand,' he told the publication.
Mr Carlson was placed on administrative leave on Thursday, effective 1 September, following the WAC's monthly meeting, with chairman Cragg Gilbert citing a 'personnel matter' as the reason.
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