In its latest crop report, the U.S. Apple Association (USApple) said apples in storage as of Feb. 1 was 33% more than the same time last year.
The total number of apples in storage was 137 million bushels, which is 23% more than the five-year average Feb. 1, according to the report.
Fresh apple holdings, at 98 million bushels, were 36% more than reported on Feb. 1, 2023, USApple said. Processing apples, totaling 39 million bushels, were 26% higher than this time a year ago.
Washington leads the February report with 109,266,667 bushels of fresh and processing apples, up from the five-year average of 89,059,710 bushels, according to the report. USApple said the state moved 3,242,086 bushels of apples in fresh storage and 12,290,295 bushels of apples in controlled atmosphere storage between the January and February report.
New York’s fresh and processing holdings stood at 10,135,297 bushels, which is up from the five-year average of 8,364,468 bushels. USApple said the state moved 529,872 bushels in regular storage and 299,999 in controlled atmosphere storage.
Michigan’s February fresh and processing holdings stood at 8,595,000 bushels, which is up from the five-year average of 5,963,000 bushels. The state moved 518,000 bushels in regular storage and 962,800 bushels in controlled atmosphere storage.
For apple varieties, Honeycrisp fresh and processing holdings continue to lead USApple’s February report figures with 20,299,677 bushels. The five-year average figure for Honeycrisp holdings is 12,783,800 bushels.
Red delicious was in second with 20,356,741 bushels of fresh and processing apples. The five-year average holdings for red delicious is 19,880,729 bushels. Gala followed in third with 18,476,610 bushels of fresh and processing apples, slightly lower than the five-year average for the variety of 19,071,917 bushels.
Cosmic Crisp stood at 8,052,381 bushels of fresh and processed apples, the report said.
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