Fresh apple holdings up by 33% year over year

U.S. fresh apple holdings totaled 124.4 million bushels in a Dec. 1 report from the U.S. Apple Association (USApple). That figure is up 33% more than inventories reported this same time last year and 20% more than the five-year average for December, the association said.

USApple also said that processing apples totaled 48.5 million bushels, which is up 19% over the same reporting time last year. The 48.5-million-bushel figure is 17% more than the five-year average for the month.

Washington leads the states in apple holdings, according to the report, with 23,399,776 42-pound bushels of fresh apples in regular storage and 81,986,890 42-pound bushels of fresh apples in controlled atmosphere storage, according to the association.

USApple reports gala leads all varieties in fresh apples in controlled storage with 18,758,807 42-pound bushels, while red delicious comes in second with 17,853,167 42-pound bushels of fresh apples in controlled atmosphere storage. Pink Lady/cripps pink tops all varieties in fresh apple holdings in regular storage with 3,893,710 42-pound bushels, and Honeycrisp is second with 3,580,764 42-pound bushels of fresh apples in regular storage.

According to the association, Honeycrisp leads all processing apples in controlled-atmosphere storage with 7,482,773 42-pound bushels, and golden delicious comes is second with 3,711,724 42-pound bushels in controlled-atmosphere storage. Golden delicious also leads processing apples in regular storage with 1,809,405 42-pound bushels, and assorted other varieties are secon with 1,803,082 42-pound bushels in regular storage.

Related link: View the entire report here.