Any Way You Slice It, Apples Rule!

One such example is women aged 25 to 54, a major focal point. To reach this particular group, there are digital coupons, in-store demonstrations, colorful point-of-sale displays, and a host of available promotions at the retail level.

The Washington Apple Commission does its part too; Lyons says the organization promotes the state’s fruit in over 25 global markets to drive demand, and currently uses the ‘Go Healthy’ ad campaign “to tie into the consumer desire for overall health.”

Byrne sees competition climbing with “brand wars in the produce aisles” with newly minted varieties vying for consumer attention. He cites a recent Nielson report showing the highest consumption of apples from ten o’clock to eleven o’clock in the morning, and again from three to four o’clock in the afternoon, at popular designated snacking times.

Moving forward, Byrne emphasizes the importance of placing apples in strategic locations beyond the produce section, such as at checkout, and his hope for new varieties specifically geared toward children. “We need to make kid-friendly sized fruit,” he proposes, smaller or snacking apples designed for diminutive hands, and with a sweeter profile.

With the Ups Come the Downs
International rivals and competition
Despite the excitement of new varieties, apples are in a highly competitive fruit market, not only against themselves—with so many flavorful choices, but against imports as well.

The closure of the Russian market to imports from many countries has had major repercussions, “disrupting what had been the greatest two-way trade in apples: between Poland and Russia,” explains Lyons.

“With Russia closed, Poland has been scrambling to find new homes for its apples, pushing more into the traditional European Union markets, the Middle East, and even Asia,” she states.

Lyons says the heightening internal market pressure has led European producers like France and Italy to seek out other export options—all of which ratchet up competition in global markets during the highly critical Northern Hemisphere season for Washington apples.

China, too, is clearly a rival, producing nearly “half of the world’s supply” and heavily serving Asia and India, according to Lyons.

Despite the competition, the impact is tempered since China is primarily a producer of Fuji apples, and holds great potential as a growing market for other varieties like Red Delicious, Gala, and Granny Smith.

Domestic woes
Although overseas factors can certainly stymie the market, homegrown issues can come from several fronts, and seemingly out of the blue.

The industry was rocked by food safety concerns, impacting exports when an outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes was traced to a California apple packing facility. This incident and its aftermath, Lyons says, “was misreported and caused panic over U.S. apple imports in several Southeast Asian markets.”