After a record-breaking 10.1 million cases (8.2kg) exports in 2021, the California cherry industry is heading for another challenging season this year.
According to industry estimates, due to the bumper production in the 2021 season and the impact of drought, the cherry tree production capacity will be weakened this season, and the sugar content will also be lower.Therefore, production in the 2022 season is expected to be lower.
There was more precipitation in December last year, but it also gave fruit trees enough low-temperature dormancy time. Coupled with the warm weather in February this year, the industry originally thought that the 2022 production season would start earlier.But unexpectedly, northern California ushered in many nights of below-freezing low temperatures in late February.As April begins, California cherry growers are still watching how the frost will affect them.
"There's been scattered frost over most of the northern valley and it looks like it's affecting the mainstream varieties," Dave Martin of leading exporter Stemilt told Asiafruit.According to his preliminary estimates, the production in this region may be reduced by 15% to 20% compared with last year.
Marc Calder of Primavera Marketing said the Bing variety was more affected by the frost.
"The yield situation in Binying is unknown, because the frost has had the greatest impact on the northernmost part of the Central Valley, where the Binying variety has more acreage. Some orchards there may not even be harvested," he said.
As for the performance of the Coral Champagne variety, Martin said it would vary by region.For example, Coral Champagne is currently doing well in Tracey, while Stockton and Lodi are not doing so well.
He believes California cherry production will be better by May, when Coral Champagne will be the dominant variety, and June will depend on how many Penn cherries have weathered the frost.
Last season, Coral Champagne was the top cherry variety in California with 3.6 million cases, followed by Bing Ying with 2.8 million cases.Binying has been the dominant cherry variety in California in the past, reaching 5.3 million cases in 2012.And Coral Champagne has grown rapidly in the past two years, gradually catching up with Bingying.Still, Binying is a very important cherry variety in California.
“Will Binying produce three million cases this year? The answer is no. Two million cases? Maybe,” Martin said.
