Our cranberry trader, Sarah Roberts, reports –
The Cranberry Marketing Committee met last week.
Overall the 2014 crop was down 7%. This figure was as predicted, and as we’re coming from a large crop in 2013 a 7% reduction is minimal.
Sales in SDCs were up 33% on international markets.
Carryover of concentrate is still the main issue in the cranberry market, with a 29.8% increase on last year.
Growers tend to convert to concentrate when they have a surplus as it takes up significantly less space in the freezer; however the industry demand is much greater for whole fruit for processing into SDCs.
A vote was taken to apply a marketing order on 2015 crop but this motion was not passed. There will be another opportunity to vote for a marketing order in August. Market pricing has firmed up; production capacity is still the main driver for this. Cranberries remain a great value product and an excellent choice as a bakery/mix inclusion.