Aug 19, 2009

Processing Apple Prices Lower This Year

The news is in: Prices for processing apples this year will be much lower than they were last year, when they were record high.

On Aug. 19, the Michigan Processing Apple Growers Marketing Committee announced a price schedule it had negotiated with several Michigan processors.

The minimum per hundredweight prices of apples 2.5 inches and larger, by variety, were listed as follows:

Jonathan, $10.50, down from $17 last year.

JonaGold, Ida and Crispin, $9, down from $16 last year.

Hard varieties, $8, down from $13 last year.

Rome, $7, no price was listed for this variety separately last year.

Soft varieties, $6.50, down from $12 last year.

Straight loads of juice apples, $5, down from $8.50 last year.

Under 2.5-inch apples in peeler loads, $4, down from $7.50 last year.

On a percentage basis, prices this year are from 53 to 62 percent of last year’s.

In April this year, Phil Pitts, who holds down the sales desk at the Michigan Processing Apple Growers, told Fruit Growers News: “We had some record prices last year, and it’ll be a while before we see them again.”

He was looking at early news that the apple crop would be large. The prices just announced are lower then any in the last three years.

Six processors agreed with the new price schedule: Birds Eye Foods, Coloma Frozen Foods, Gerber Products, Knouse Foods, Peterson Farms and Sill Farms Market. Four agreed with the juice price ¬– Coloma Frozen Foods, Gerber and Peterson Farms, as well as Aseltine Cider Co.

Burnette Foods, Cherry Growers Inc. and Smeltzer Orchard Co. opted out of the negotiations, but discussions continue.