The US Northwest cherry industry is looking ahead to a solid second half of the season with a forecast four weeks of load volume expected to lead to a further 4.5m-5m boxes being shipped.
Northwest Cherry Growers said in a statement that harvesting of early and mid-season varieties was winding down, with the industry shipping over 7m 20lb-equivalent boxes so far this campaign.
'We are still on pace for our expected mid-July volume, and foresee promotable load volume through to 10 August from the Northwest,' the group said.
This season's crop has significantly benefited from an extended 'hang-time' of fruit on the trees, with ever increasing high quality expected to spike consumer sell-through. Category data and shelf-space analysis from Nielsen and the Perishables Group has also shown that cherries are the highest dollar-per-square foot item in the produce department for July.
Additionally, Northwest Cherry Growers noted that National Rainier Cherry Day on 11 July has helped to raise awareness of the fruit, with feedback on www.nwcherries.com pointing to great fruit flavour and increasing ease of finding limited availability Rainiers in stores.
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