Apr 10, 2024

April apple storage up

Fresh and processing apple inventories are reported higher this April from the previous April, according to an April 10 report from the U.S. Apple Association.

Every state except for Michigan and West Virginia reported storage gains.

According to the USAppleTracker report, the total number of apples in storage on April 1 was 95 million bushels, 33% more than last April’s total of 71 million bushels and 27% larger than the 5-year average for the date.

Fresh apple holdings in April totaled 68 million bushels, 36% higher than the inventories reported for April 2023. Processing holdings totaled 26 million bushels, a 25% increase from last year on April 1.

Michigan total storage fell from 4.9 million bushels to 4.8 million bushels. While fresh holdings increased from 2.9 million bushels to 3.2 million bushels, processing storage declined from 1.9 million bushels to 1.7 million bushels compared to April 2023.

Storage for both channels is higher than the five-year average. For Michigan’s fresh, it’s 1.3 million bushels and a 1.5 million bushel five-year average for processed storage.

Washington storage increased from 57 million bushels to 76 million bushels, experiencing increases in fresh and processed holdings. The five-year average is 61.5 million bushels.

New York holdings expanded from 4.9 million bushels to 7.2 million bushels, higher than the 5.2 million bushel five-year average.

For Pennsylvania, holdings increased from 2.7 million bushels to 3.2 million bushels, more than the 2.7 million bushel five-year average.

Virginia’s holdings increased from 927,229 bushels to 1.2 million bushels, larger than the 1 million bushel five-year average.

Oregon, North Carolina, Maryland, California, Idaho, West Virginia, Massachusetts, Indiana, Ohio, Connecticut and New Hampshire, ranked in order of descending storage volume, round out the remaining producing states with production listed in the USAppleTracker tables.

The “other states” listings, the “minor” production states, also increased from 7,414 bushels to 11,000 bushels, above the 6,246 bushel five-year average.

The leading varieties in storage, in order by descending volume, are

• Honeycrisp
• Red Delicious
• Gala
• Granny Smith
• Fuji
• Cosmic Crisp
• Pink Lady/Cripps Pink
• Golden Delicious
• Ambrosia
• Rome
• Envy
• Idared
• McIntosh
• York
• Empire

By comparison, in last month’s report, the total number of apples in storage on March 1 was 118 million bushels, 34% higher than March 2023’s 88 million bushels and 25% more than the 5-year average for that date.

The report captures more than 95% of the national storage capacity, according to USApple.

Read more of the report here.