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| PMA BULLETIN 1/2007 | 22 May 2008 |
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 Welcome to this season's first PMA Bulletin.
Our goal is to keep you up to date with crop developments and promotions, starting with US cherries.
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Jim Culbertson from California Cherry Advisory Board reports this year's California cherry crop is generally very good. Early varieties are already in the markets. The Bing harvest is under way, with volume beginning around May 24. Jim says this year there should be a more even spread of supply in June, compared with last year.
Next week, merchandisers will be visiting over 320 independent retailers in Qld, NSW, Victoria and SA, to deliver point-of-sale materials and merchandising information. This year the service is being shared with Zespri Gold kiwifruit, who also have a range of innovative and eye-catching POS for independent retailers.
The accompanying image shows this year's California Cherry poster design. (Click image to enlarge).
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Today, Northwest Cherry Growers President BJ Thurlby provided an update on the situation in the Northwest. He says:
"The latest estimate is for a crop of almost 10 million (20lb) cartons (equivalent to 18 million 5kg cartons). While down significantly on the record crops shipped each of the last two years, the crop will still be in the top five for production.
The peak will be 30 June/1 July, which is 5 to 7 days behind the 2007 peak. The crop is forecast to run for 80 days, compared with 75 days in 2007.
Rainier cherries, which performed very well with trial shipments to Australia last year, will make up a significant proportion of the tonnage in late June into July"
The later crop is good news for the Australian and New Zealand markets, which continue to consume cherries well into August.
This year there will be good supplies throughout July and well into August, as the chart shows (click here to enlarge)
Northwest Cherry Growers' Director of International Marketing, Keith Hu discusses this year's cherry prospects with Marketing Service Manager Mark Baker, during his visit in April.
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