Industry officials say decreased inventories of prunes will improve prices

By TIM HEARDEN

Capital Press

RED BLUFF, Calif. -- The new head of the California Dried Plum Board says he hopes for a rebound in plum acreage in the next decade even as plantings dipped again in the last year.

Only 55,000 acres of trees were bearing during the 2010-11 season, down from the 61,000 acres that bore fruit in the previous year and down significantly from the 72,000 acres harvested in 2003, noted Donn Zea, the plum board's executive director.

And only 137,000 new plum trees were sold last year, a sharp decrease from the 308,000 trees sold in 2010, according to handler data.

As a result, growers produced an estimated yield of 122,000 tons of prunes this past fall, a slight dip from last year and a significant drop from the 157,000 tons harvested in 2009.

However, industry officials note that the total inventory of 187,009 tons from 2011 is smaller than the 214,366 tons in storage after 2010, which should push up prices. The smaller inventory is thanks in large part to $20.6 million in prune purchases by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for school-lunch and other programs, Zea said.

Several factors went into the purchases, he said.

"One, you have a great product," Zea told a room full of growers at a University of California sponsored workshop here. "Secondly, there's been a lot of effort to communicate with the USDA.

"This is something that doesn't happen very often," he said of the purchases. "The fact (was) that money was laying around, they had to spend it. Otherwise it would be taken away."

California produces nearly all of the nation's prunes and 70 percent of the world's supply. But as the Golden State's nut growers were setting production records last year, prune producers were recovering from a dip in grower returns stemming from a busted crop in 2004 that ate into their worldwide market share.

Growers are receiving an average of $1,349 per dry ton this season, up from the $1,226 they received last year and nearly a twofold increase from returns over the previous six years, according to the dried plum board.

The board is continuing its aggressive public relations campaign featuring Olympic swimmer Natalie Coughlin as a spokeswoman and targeting health-conscious consumers through social media, Zea said.

Overseas, targeted marketing efforts continue in the United Kingdom, Italy, Russia, Japan, China and India, he said.

Online

California Dried Plum Board: www.californiadriedplums.org