Market Watch


Demand exceeded 2013 crop supply as focus on niche customers continued.


A


lthough it didn’t have as much fruit to move in the past year B.C. Tree Fruits Cooperative


continues to make the best of the situation. Chris Pollock,marketing and sales for


the co-op, noted that higher fruit prices have been good news. “Right nowwe have shipped just over


1.1million cartons of apples to date,” said Pollock in early February.” That is down fromabout 1.4 last year but again it’s just due to the factwe have less fruit to sell. That is the only factor.” Overall prices for all sizes, grades and


all varieties of apples had increased eight per cent over 2012.. Pollock noted that overall crop


volumes of apples and cherrieswere lower in 2013 due to the effects of some bouts of badweather that included spring frosts and a severe hailstormin July, followed by some smaller hailstorms in late summer and into September. He added if they had the volume of


fruit tomeet the demand theywould have been able to shipmore than 1.4 million cartons. Average prices for all grades and all


sizes had risen from2012 and that remained good news for growers. The pear inventory remains about the


same as in 2012 at about 73,000 cartons and prices are up about five per cent. Cherry priceswere also up over 2012 even though inventorywas down. Pollock said rather than trying to


competewithmassive apple-producing regions such asWallaWalla/Wenatchee inWashington State, the co-op focused on its nichemarkets acrossWestern Canada. “About 80 to 85 per cent of our fruit


ismoved in theWestern Canadian market,” said Pollock. “Having said that, thismeans there’s 15 to 20 per cent of the fruitmoved elsewhere, and honestly that depends on opportunities. “Last yearwemoved a lot of fruit to


Eastern Canada. This year,we haven’t moved asmuch becausewe haven’t had


6


By Scott Trudeau Weather hurt volumes,but prices up


asmuch fruit.” Ambrosia andMcIntosh appleswere


also shipped to thewestern part of the United States. Apples have also been shipped toMexico and Southeast Asia to Vietnam. Pollock emphasized thatwith these


“nichemarkets,” the apple varieties being shipped to these regions is important. “Formarkets like


Vietnamand certain parts of theUnited States, it’s a nichemarket becausewe have a variety thatmarket wants,” he said. “We also have the sizing thatmarket wants.” For example, in Vietnam,


people are looking for larger-sized fruit than in the North Americanmarket, which prefers smaller-sized product. Because varieties such as


Ambrosiawere larger than other years the co-op had the opportunity to ship outside of theNorth Americanmarket. “The key is that themarket iswilling


to pay the prices thatwe have set,which is good for our growers,” said Pollock. The co-opwas busy ramping up its


apple volume in preparation for apple month in February. Some retailers featured store fruit


displays and promoted BC Tree Fruit applemonth. “It’s an opportunity to really


penetrate themarket.We have partnershipswith ourWestern Canadian retailers that allowus to do that.” HankMarkgraf, grower services


managerwith the co-op, said growers don’t appear to be concerned about weather-related issues toward the end of 2013, including any damage happening froma cold snap in December. “The trees had gone into dormancy


andweweren’t even close to coming out of dormancy,” saidMarkgraf. “It had gradually cooled down. It didn’t snap out of the blue. Itwas pretty cold butwe didn’t get to any,what Iwould say, damaging temperature.” Some concerns had been raised about whether or not there could be any


British Columbia FRUIT GROWER • Spring 2014


negative effects fromsome unseasonablywarm-weather days in January but no one is tooworried. “The ground for themost part is


frozen or close to freezing,” he said. “The trees aren’t coming out of their dormancy just yet. You need root growth to start first.Once you get root growth the tree starts to grow.We haven’t had that yet.” Markgraf said because of


thewarmer temperatures andwith no snowcover in probably 80 per cent of the orchards, he’s hoping growerswere taking advantage of those conditions to get ahead on their pruning. “That is something that


does happen in February, we break dormancy early and guys are kind of caught,” he said. “It’s just so easy to prunewhen there’s no snowon the ground and you’re trudging through all that stuff.” Snowpack levels can affectwater levels and


that’s something growers need to be aware of butMarkgraf noted it’s too early to forecastwhat to expect in that area. “At this pointwe concentrate on


dormant pruning andworry about the restwhenwe get there,” he said. As growersmove into the spring


many are reflecting on that past year’s crops and sometimes,Markgraf is able tomeetwith growers and together, discuss steps they can take to improve. “We can fix a lot of those thingswith


pruning shears tomodify trees so that they get themto be a better size, get more fruit,whatever they think,” said Markgraf. “We look at the effects of the season aswell; no two years are the same.” FromFeb. 22 – 26,Kelowna hosted


the 57th International Fruit Tree Association Annual Conference and IntensiveWorkshop. The theme focused on precision orchard management to help growers get as much as possible fromtheir orchards and featured guest speakers, education workshops, conference sessions and field tours. About 350 growers participated in the event.


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