Cherry Projections Show Drop from 2015

At Wednesday’s Five-State Cherry Meeting, the industry forecasted about 183.2 thousand tons of cherries for the upcoming season, their third of four estimates.

President of Northwest Cherries B.J. Thurlby said this may be considered an average to below average crop, but it shows how far the industry has come.

“When I started in this business, we shipped five million boxes. Now we’re up to 18.4 million boxes and it’s considered a short crop. Cherries that are growers are growing have continued to move the demand arrow forward.”

Drops in production were expected in all areas of Washington while Oregon expected to have about 7,000 more tons in 2016 than 2015.

And with the likelihood of a compressed season where a lot of cherries will need to be packed and shipped in a small amount of time, Thurlby said everyone needs to be ready.

“The window for that is very clear to us. It’s from the 10^th of June to the 20^th of July. We need ads every week from every retailer. Every importer in the world focusing on our product in that window.”

If accurate, the projected total for 2016 would represent about a 5,000 ton drop from 2015.

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