WENATCHEE, WA – After a cool spring and late bloom, Northwest cherry season is finally underway, promising large volumes of cherries to North American retailers. And CMI Orchards’ Vice President of Marketing George Harter reports that the company is gearing up for the biggest week of the season with its Bing cherries headed into Independence Day, and peak volumes of Rainier and Sweethearts hitting shelves shortly after.

Retailers that had previously been burdened with market shortages—due to strong export pricing and the propensity of early cherries to be pulled into lucrative international markets—will finally see ample supplies of cherries just in time for the July 4th holiday.

“Compared to the last couple of years, which were unseasonably early, it has felt like forever to get this season rolling,” said Harter, in a company press release. “That is behind us now and the next four weeks will bring peak supplies on both Red and Rainier cherries.”

Despite the late harvest, Harter noted, initial sales this season have been excellent.

“If you look at the first 13 days of the Northwest cherry season compared to the first 13 shipping days last year, the industry is up 41% in total carton shipments. That’s a strong indication that the cherry quality we’re seeing is outstanding,” said Harter, who also noted that CMI Orchards is predicting record harvests of Red and Rainer cherries this year. “Our horticultural staff is telling us that 2017 is going to be an epic crop. We’re not only anticipating a big crop of red cherries, but we’re projecting a record harvest of Rainier’s rebounding from last year’s small crop.”

Harter added that the harvest of Red cherries is solidly underway, with Rainier harvest expected to peak over the weeks of July 1-15.

“Any retailer who has been waiting for that one big year to hammer Rainiers, now is the time. At CMI we expect our Rainier cherry volume to be up close to 50 percent,” said Harter. “We’re counting on our partner retailers to really drive sales during the entire month of July. We believe that 60 percent of our total cherry crop will be harvested after the July 4th holiday. That bodes well for strong promotions for the entire month of July.”

The harvest is shaping up in more ways than one, too, and Harter noted that the company is pleased with the season’s cherry sizing.

“Fruit packed so far has been peaking on 10-10.5 row size, which is bigger than the initial pre-harvest estimates,” added Harter. “Overall, fruit size will be down slightly from last year when a light crop on the trees yielded above average sizing. We’ll still have plenty of the 10.5 row and larger cherries that consumers prefer.”

AndNowUKnow will continue to report with more on CMI Orchards and the cherry season as it proceeds. 

CMI Orchards