GEN Shutterstock_two red shiny delicious apples hanging from a tree branch in an apple orchard

The apple crop in the US is expected to be down in volume terms this year when compared to last year's bumper crop, according to an early estimate outlined at the recent Premier Apple Cooperative meeting in the country.

The 2015 crop is expected to drop 3.2 per cent on 2015, according to a report by Capital Press, with total US fresh and processed production forecast to hit 259.5m boxes.

The overall Washington crop is expected to drop 5.3 per cent to 165m boxes, with fresh apples around 135m boxes, down from 140.6m in 2014.

New York apples should come in at 27.5m boxes, a drop of 9.1 per cent, with Michigan at 24m (up 8 per cent), Pennsylvania at 11.5m boxes (up 1 per cent), Virginia at 5m boxes (up 7.1 per cent) and California at 5.5m boxes (up 0.4 per cent).