09/02/05 Most profitable apple crop ever? Pt.2

Both U.S.D.A. and the U.S. Apple Association have projected that the 2005 U.S. apple crop will be down compared to last year. And that is a good thing, according to U.S. Apple's Jim Cranney. CRANNEY: Prices were down a little bit this past year, and I think that's attributed to the larger crop we had this past year. And we really expect prices to respond to this lighter crop that we're going to have coming up. Cranney predicted at the recent Apple Outlook 2005 Convention in Chicago that the smaller crop could lead to one of the more profitable years for U.S. apple growers. But he later added that the reduced crop was not the only reason. For one, there will be continued considerable push of apples in new and expanded global markets. This comes as apple producers in Southern Hemisphere nations find themselves light in supply this coming crop year. Domestic promotion will continue to be heavy thanks to fast food giants like McDonalds and Wendy's offering apple related menu items. And the remains of the 2004 crop, which were expected to be carried over into the 2005 crop year, have pretty much been cleaned up. Or as Cranney puts it & CRANNEY: Right now, there looks like there's going to be plenty of apples for marketers to handle and consumers are going to have access to great supplies. I think that just talking about the margins there, it's just that excess supply that you want to be weary of and I don't think we're there.