If Thanksgiving cranberry sales don’t pick up, it could be a tough year for Massachusetts growers of the bitter fruit—and they’re placing much of the blame on the US trade war with China.
The Bay State’s cranberry output is the second-highest in the country, and the Ocean Spray brand is based here.
Brian Wick, executive director of the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers Association, explains that the Bay State crop so far is down about 4% from 2018, though there was an ample supply last year. But Wick says the loss of the Chinese market has been substantial since the tariffs went into effect in July 2018.
“Based on the USDA numbers nationally, we have lost a little over $50 million so far, since the tariffs have gone into place,” Wick says. “So, that’s a significant impact.”
Last year, China bought close to $55 million worth of cranberry products, making it the largest importer of US cranberries.
But export figures show in the first half of this year, cranberry sales to China were down about 45% compared to the first half of 2018, before the tariffs took effect. And the US cranberry market makes about 30% of its money from exports, according to Wick.
While the volume of the cranberry crop is down a bit, Wick says growers are seeing higher-quality berries this year. He credits the weather, with more predictable summer and fall weather patterns in the area.
“We’re just very happy with the color coming on so quickly,” says Wick. “Those nice, dark red berries that look great in your fresh fruit bags when you’re making your decisions for your cranberries for the holidays.”
Since the crop decreased and the quality improved, Wick expects that prices will increase this season, and expressed hope that will help support the 300 or so cranberry growers in Massachusetts.
Only about 5% of US cranberries are sold fresh, according to the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center.
Laura is a national producer for Public News Service. Before that, she was the news director at WRFI in Ithaca, NY, and prior to that worked as a print journalist in Israel. She has covered basically everything: technology, local government, health, social issues, peace and justice, cultural topics, etc. Her pieces have been published in the Atlantic, Business Insider, NPR News, NPR member station WSKG, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Next Web, the Jerusalem Post, Mic (formerly known as PolicyMic), the Times of Israel, Geektime, AlterNet, the Oakland Tribune, Walla! News, and the Jewish Exponent.
