Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/366055
Russian import ban could impact apple market. by Geraldine Warner W ashington State orchardists expect to har- vest 140 million boxes of apples this fall, almost 10 percent more than ever before and 20 percent more than last season. The record crop did not take the industry by surprise, says Dan Kelly, assistant manager at the Washington Growers Clearing House Association. Packers have been gearing up to handle larger volumes. However, there could be some challenges on the mar- keting side. Russia recently announced it is banning imports of fruits and other foods from the United States, the Euro- pean Union, Canada, Australia, and Norway for one year in retaliation for sanctions placed on it by the West. Todd Fryhover, president of the Washington Apple Commission, said though Washington only ships about 600,000 cartons of apples annually into Russia, the impact of the ban will be felt. Russia takes large apples, typically in the 64 to 80 size range, whereas most other export markets like smaller apples, and it's a market for mainline varieties, such as Red and Golden Delicious and Granny Smiths. "So it does play a very key role in the export side," Fryhover said. In addition, the European apple crop is forecast to be up 9 percent this year from last. With the Russian market closed, producers will be looking to export into other markets, such as the Middle East or Southeast Asia, where they'll compete directly with Washington apples. Washington Red and Golden Delicious apples have been shut out of China for the past two crop years because of Chinese concerns about decay problems. It's expected that the market will reopen for the 2014 crop, but uncertainties remain about the export protocol, which is far more stringent than the last one. "I think there are shippers who feel they need to do it and shippers who feel the protocol is so complex they can't do it," Fryhover said. The United States is still nego- tiating access to China for all apple varieties. Kelly noted that this year's 140 million boxes is only a 9 percent increase over two years ago when Washington had an extremely successful season with record volume and record prices. However, that year other U.S. growing regions, including Michigan and New York, lost most of their crop because of spring freezes. This year, all U.S. apple-growing regions are expecting a full crop. New York is predicting an above-average crop of 30 million boxes and Michigan expects to harvest 28 million boxes. "It's not going to be like the 2012 crop when we had a huge crop and everyone else was down," Kelly said. But Fryhover sees cause for optimism in the numbers. Organic production has increased by almost 33 percent to 9.6 million boxes, but there's strong demand for that in the domestic market. Honeycrisp production will be up this year by 73 per- cent to 7.8 million boxes. Again, this is no cause for con- cern, he said, because of the high demand for the variety. Fuji will be up 40 percent from last year at 20 million boxes, about the same volume as two years ago. This is good news, Fryhover said, because this season there weren't enough Fujis to satisfy Taiwanese buyers. The highest demand is for the new, higher-coloring strains of Fuji, which make up an increasing proportion of the crop. Washington will produce a record Gala crop of 30 mil- lion boxes, but it's a variety that's popular in both inter- national and domestic markets. "Having more of a good thing is not necessarily a bad thing," Fryhover said. Red Delicious apples will be up 11 percent from last year and Golden Delicious up 34 percent, though both are down slightly from two years ago. Fryhover said more Red Delicious need to be exported. Traditionally about half the crop has gone to international markets. "This year, we need to be targeting between 60 and 65 percent on the export side," he said. "Nobody competes with us on Red Delicious. Ours are the best, and they're the flagship of the Washington apple industry." There was no immediate speculation on how the large volume might affect prices paid for apples. • 8 SEPTEMBER 2014 GOOD FRUIT GROWER www.goodfruit.com Washington lands record crop