October, 1998

USDA revises 1998 apple forecast down

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently released its second forecast of the 1998 U.S. apple crop, estimated at 265.6 million bushels. This is down four million bushels from USDA's Aug. 1 forecast of 269.6 million bushels.
"USDA's October estimate indicates that this crop is smaller than we initially anticipated," said U.S. Apple Association (USApple) Vice President of Industry Services James Cranney, Jr. "Much of the reduction was caused by unfavorable weather conditions later in the growing season in some parts of the country. This will cause fresh-market packers to grade out a higher percentage of the crop."
"Consumers will still have plenty of U.S. apples to choose from, but this size reduction could cause prices to firm up or increase slightly," he predicted. Of the four million-bushel decrease between the Aug. 1 and Oct. 1 forecasts, 2.5 million bushels was attributed to Washington state. The most significant percentage decrease was forecast for North Carolina, for which the Oct. 1 forecast declined by 13% compared to the Aug. 1 forecast.
USDA's estimate for Michigan increased by approximately one-half million bushels, due to timely rain late in the season that boosted apple size.