Honeycrisp, Cosmic Crisp usher in banner year for U.S. apples

Dec. 22 (UPI) -- Growers report that apple production in the United States hit levels in 2023 that had not been seen since the 2014-15 season. Washington State was the largest grower, producing some 90% of the nation's crop.

According to USApple's director of industry analytics Chris Gerlach, U.S. farms produced approximately 190 million bushels -- 140 million of those bushels in fresh and 51 million in processed apples -- this year.

"The last time we had a total holding of this size in November, it was the November 2014-15 season with 188 million bushels -- 144 million bushels in fresh and 44 million bushels in processing," Gerlach told the Packer. "For the most part, we're right on par with the production with the fresh crop there."

This comes in the wake of USDA news that the global apple production is forecast to be slightly up -- to 83.1 million tons -- as recovering supplies in China, South Africa,and the United Dates offset losses in the European Union and Turkey.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported production of apples is projected up 56,000 tons, for a 4.4 million total this year, with good growing conditions spurring a recovery in Washington state output after last year's damaging spring weather.

According to the USApple tracker, Washington remains the country's biggest producer and is up 38% year over year, equivalent to 42 million bushels. New York state's 15 million bushels is 10% of the national output. That crop experienced a boom lately, growing 44% year over year.

Of all the varieties, Honeycrisp, Gala, Red Delicious, Granny Smith and Fuji make up 76% of the total apple holdings. The big winner this year was the Cosmic Crisp apple, which experienced a 41% year-over-year growth, with 9.5 million bushels harvested.

Mexico makes up the largest export market currently for U.S. apples at 3 million bushels, which is about 31% of all exports.

Canada is next, buying 2 million bushels, or about 22% of the export market.

Taiwan comes in third with 920,000 bushels, or about 1% of the market.

Due to tariffs that expired in September, U.S. apples lost a critical export destination in India this year, which was worth about $3 million.

According to the USDA, apple exports are estimated up 632,000 tons to 6.1 million tons, based on higher shipments from the United States, Iran, and China.

Production from both the EU and Turkey is expected to slip this year, as well, dropping 475,000 tons to 12.2 million tons due to higher‐than‐normal fruit yield and cold temperatures during bloom.

Turkey's production is forecast down for the first time since 2014/15, easing 118,000 tons to 4.9 million.