Apples are America’s favorite fruit, with 26 lbs of apples and apple juice consumed per person, per year, with apples boasting a number of health benefits. The U.S. apple production has been steadily growing over the last 75 years. While there was a slowdown in the 2000s following a boom in the 1990s, the industry has recovered and is returning to the long-term trend line, and the projections indicate an upward trend increasing by 8.6% by 2027. (Source: US Apple Industry Outlook 2022)
USDA forecasted the total 2023 apple crop to be 1.5% higher than 2022 crop. With the new information collected at the USApple Conference in mid-August, however, the current crop is expected to be 4.1% higher than last year’s. The main reason for the increase is that Washington State is forecasting a crop of 160M bushels, a 9.5% increase compared to last year.
Washington State’s crop is 60%-65% of the total U.S. crop, so volume variances have a significant impact on U.S. total production.
Washington State is followed by Michigan with 32M bushels (-1.2% from 2022 very large crop), New York State with 28M bushels (-13% from last year’s excellent crop), “other” states with 14M (flat), Pennsylvania with 10.8M (+10% from 2021), and then California, Virginia, and Oregon.
| USDA 2023/24 Forecast | 2023/24 USApple | 2022/23 | 5-Yr. Average | |
| United States | 250.0 | 256.3 | 246.3 | 258.8 |
| Washington | 160.0 | 160.0 | 146.1 | 162.9 |
| Michigan | 27.4 | 32.0 | 32.4 | 24.7 |
| New York | 26.2 | 28.0 | 32.3 | 32.1 |
| Pennsylvania | 10.5 | 10.8 | 9.8 | 11.3 |
| California | 4.8 | 4.8 | 4.2 | 5.3 |
| Virginia | 4.6 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.3 |
| Oregon | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.2 | 3.7 |
| Other | 14.0 | 14.0 | 13.8 | 14.6 |
| By Variety | WA | By Variety | US | |
| Gala | 20% | Gala | 18.1% | |
| Honeycrisp | 15% | Red Delicious | 12.5% | |
| Granny Smith | 14% | Honeycrisp | 11.1% | |
| Red Delicious | 13% | Fuji | 10.1% | |
| Fuji | 12% | Granny Smith | 9.9% | |
| Pink Lady/Cripps Pink | 6% | Golden Delicious | 6.3% | |
| Cosmic Crisp | 6% | Pink Lady/Cripps Pink | 4.9% | |
| Golden Delicious | 4% | Cosmic Crisp | 3.8% | |
| Ambrosia Others | 2% | Rome | 2.8% | |
| Others | 10% | Others | 10.1% |
A quick mention about the Cosmic Crisp variety:
From 2011 to 2021, the organic acreage has increased from 13K acres to 31K (+132%); and production has increased from 7.1M bushels to 23.4M (+230%). Washington State accounts for 88% of the organic acreage and 95% of the production. Gala (29% of the production), Honeycrisp (17%) and Fuji (16%) are the top three varieties.
Apples, both organic and conventional, are part of FruitSmart’s core business; contact us today for your apple needs, especially cold pressed NFC, apple juice.
