U.S. fresh apple crop in storage down 13%, prices up
Fresh apple inventories on Jan. 1 were down 13% compared with the same time a year ago, according to the latest U.S. Apple Association Market News report.
The 90.3 million 42-pound carton equivalents in storage on Jan. 1 were 13.1% less than the 103.9 million cartons reported the same time in 2020 and 8.9% less than the five-year average of 99 million cartons, according to the report.
By variety, storage holdings on Jan. 1, compared with a year ago, were:
- Cosmic Crisp: 1.249 million carton, up more than 700% from 175,238 cartons;
- Fuji: 13.2 million cartons, up 4.2% from 12.68 million cartons;
- Gala: 17.8 million cartons, down 20% from 22,2 million cartons;
- Granny Smith: 9.9 million cartons, down 22% from 12.65 million cartons;
- Honeycrisp: 10.4 million cartons, up 1% from 10.32 million cartons;
- Cripps pink/Pink Lady: 5.5 million cartons, up 5% from 5.29 million cartons; and
- Red delicious: 17.5 million cartons, down 22% from 22.35 million cartons.
With supplies shorter this season, prices of apples are up. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported the average f.o.b. price for all apples on Jan. 9 was $28.32 per carton, up from $23.17 per carton in 2020 and $26.19 in 2019.
