Record-Breaking Year For Washington Apple Industry

The 2010 apple crop in Washington is on track to set a record as the largest ever, the Yakima Herald-Republic reports. Projections show that total shipments will be more than 108.6 million boxes, beating the current record of 108.3 million boxes in 2008.

Jon DeVaney, executive director of the Yakima Valley Growers-Shippers Association, said that at first, the season didn’t look like it was going to be a record-breaker. But, things changed. “The market demand has been strong in part because other states had a reduced supply and prices have stayed strong,” he said. “We have been shipping more than we projected.”

The month of March alone broke shipment records at 11.55 million boxes. November and December shipments also were record breaking.

As of April 1, Yakima and Wenatchee warehouses had shipped 70.3 million boxes of apples. Fruit currently in storage waiting to be packed will yield an estimated 38.3 million boxes, which will make for the record crop.