By The Numbers: Significant 2023-2024 U.S. Apple Production Stats

Few individuals work wonders with numbers like USApple’s Economist and Director of Industry Analytics, Chris Gerlach. He guided his constituents into the New Year with myriad 2023-2024 apple production numbers new and newer, largely in millions of bushels (m bu):

• 236 m bu — USDA’s August estimate of production by the top seven apple-producing states (Washington, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, California, Virginia, and Oregon).
• 256 m bu — USApple’s adjustment to USDA’s figure while including the “other states” (14 m bu) no longer recognized by USDA.
• 190 m bu — USApple’s storage number from November, including 140 m bu fresh and 51 m bu processing.
• 2014-2015 — The last season in which the November storage figure was as high (188 m bu).
• 51 vs. 44 m bu — Storage numbers specific to processing from 2023 and 2014, respectively. “A lot of that has to do with the down market this year, given the huge crop that we had last year. (Because) the processors were able to fill up their coffers with last season’s apples, there hasn’t been much movement on the processing side,” Gerlach said.
• 38% — Washington state’s year-over-year (YOY) increase in storage, representing 42 m bu. “That accounts for about 90% of the national growth. It was essentially like combining an additional Michigan and Pennsylvania production year. It’s a huge number of additional bushels to come onto the market,” Gerlach said.
• 26% — Michigan’s increase above its five-year average despite a 6% decrease in 2023.
• 94% — Combined November storage of Washington, New York, and Michigan compared to the rest of the country. “No disrespect to the other states, but these are where the apples are residing,” Gerlach says.
• 30 vs. 29 m bu — Storage numbers of ‘Honeycrisp‘ (up 62%) vs ‘Gala’ (up 12%), respectively, representing a swap between the top two varietals in the U.S. They were followed by ‘Red Delicious’ (26 m bu, up 44%), ‘Granny Smith’ (23 m bu, up 61%), and ‘Fuji’ (18 m bu, up 17%). In sixth place, at 13 m bu, was “other varieties,” which fell 16% only because USApple, following the lead of the Washington State Tree Fruit Association, pulled ‘Envy’ and its 4 m bu out of the “other varieties” category. “‘Envy is big enough to start reporting on its own, much the same as we’ve done with ‘Cosmic Crisp’ (9.5 m bu, up 41%),” Gerlach says. Displaced by ‘Envy’ was ‘Braeburn’.