Jun 10, 2024

Apple storage continues to rise

Apple holdings for June have increased, up about a third overall and across fresh and processing channels.

On June 10, the U.S. Apple Association via its USAppleTracker report reported the total number of apples in storage on June 1 was 57 million bushels, 36% more than last June’s total of 42 million bushels and 34% higher than the 5-year average for that date.

May’s movement of 19 million bushels was 28% above movement volumes for the same period last year.

Fresh apple holdings in June totaled 40 million bushels, 38% more than the inventories reported for last June. Processing holdings totaled 17 million bushels, 32% larger than last year on June 1 and 19% above last year’s value. Processor movement last month was 6.2 million bushels, 50% above last May’s figure.

Of the Top 5 apple producing states – Washington, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia – only Michigan and Virginia reported storage declines.

Washington storage increased from 34 million bushels to 47 million bushels, experiencing increases in fresh and processed holdings from June 2023 to June 2024. The five-year May holdings average is 36 million bushels.

Michigan storage fell from 2.6 million bushels during the period to 2.5 million bushels. Processing holdings slightly increased from 1.05 million bushels to 1.06 million bushels, while fresh storage slightly declined from 1.57 million bushels to 1.51 million bushels during the period. The five-year average is 1.3 million bushels.

New York holdings increased from 2.7 million bushels to 4.2 million bushels, higher than the 2.9 million bushel five-year average.

For Pennsylvania, holdings increased from 1.3 million bushels to 1.7 million bushels, more than the 1.1 million bushel five-year average.

Virginia’s holdings declined from 671,879 bushels to 518,167 bushels, smaller than the 732,261 bushel five-year average.

For Oregon, holdings increased from 399,480 bushels to 459.062 bushels, smaller than the 480,504 bushel five-year average.

The leading 15 varieties in storage, in order by volume, were Red Delicious, Honeycrisp, Granny Smith, Gala, Fuji, Cosmic Crisp, Pink Lady/Cripps Pink, Golden Delicious, Ambrosia, Rome, Idared, York, McIntosh, Envy, and Empire. There were few changes in the report.

The report captures more than 95% of the national storage capacity, according to Christopher Gerlach, USApple’s director of industry analytics.

View the report here.