Washington State is set for a much bigger apple crop in 2016, but it will not exceed the record volume shipped two years ago, according to a pre-season estimate from the Washington State Tree Fruit Association, released last week.
WSTFA has forecast a crop of 132.9m 40lb (18kg) cartons, up 15 per cent on 2015’s 115m-carton crop, but still down 6 per cent on the bumper crop of 2014, when 141.8m cartons were shipped.
“Weather in 2016 has been favourable for the development of a high-quality crop with good colour and storability.In addition, harvest has begun one to two weeks earlier as a result of those conditions,” said Jon DeVaney, president of WSTFA. “Washington apple growers expect to deliver a large crop of beautiful apples to consumers this year.”
While Red Delicious remains the dominant variety in Washington State, accounting for a projected 25 per cent of total production, the varietal profile continues to diversify. Gala is now close behind Red Delicious at 23 per cent, followed by Fuji (14 per cent) and Granny Smith (13 per cent). Honeycrisp is forecast to come in at 7 per cent of the total crop this year, and Cripps Pink at 4 per cent.
WSTFA’s forecast is based on a survey of its members, and represents 'a best estimate' of the total volume of apples that will eventually be packed and sold on the fresh market (excluding product sent to processing).
The Washington apple harvest typically begins in early August and continues into November, and WSTFA cautioned that the forecast is still subject to several months of variable weather, which can affect the final season’s crop.
Asiafruit’s North American correspondent Jeff Long visited key Washington apple marketers last week. Read his comment and analysis on the apple crop outlook here.
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