WENATCHEE, WA - The 2024/2025 Honeycrisp crop is in shorter supply and the current rate of movement is greater than supply can sustain. Stemilt Marketing Director Brianna Shales looks at the latest Stemilt data that supports a need to shift promotion plans from Honeycrisp to other apples like Cosmic Crisp®, SweeTango® SugarBee®, and Envy® to relieve industry pressure on Honeycrisp volumes.

“The national holdings report affirms that the industry doesn’t have the volume of Honeycrisp to support the current Honeycrisp rate of movement, and we certainly can’t support a 25 percent year-over-year increase in ads featuring this variety,” said Shales. “We have to start pivoting to other apples, and there are many high-flavor varieties available now. Core varieties, Cosmic Crisp, and Pink Lady® all have opportunities to keep retail dollars growing with multi-variety ads.”

A Stemilt analysis of U.S. grocery ads on Honeycrisp showed a 25 percent increase in ads during the latest 12 weeks, when compared to the same 12 weeks during 2023, a press release stated. According to Shales, some of that promotion activity helped move the large national Honeycrisp crop from 2023 at the end of the season, but she advises retailers against continuing this increased ad trajectory because of the shorter national Honeycrisp crop in 2024. The November storage report revealed that Honeycrisp holdings are down 32 percent year-over-year nationally.

According to the USApple Industry Outlook 2024 report, the Honeycrisp crop had a 51 percent increase in 2023 that led to a 16 percent decline in prices year-over-year. Nielsen retail scan data shows that the average price per pound on Honeycrisp was $2.19 in September and October, compared to $2.50/lb. during that timeframe in 2023. Honeycrisp volumes continue to gain year-over-year even though the supply has shifted down with the new crop.

“Shifting away from Honeycrisp promotions and bringing retails up are needed adjustments for this crop,” said Shales. “Consumers have long proven their loyalty to Honeycrisp, so it needs to be part of the mix, but this crop is ripe with opportunities to shift the promotion attention and consumer apple purchases towards high flavor varieties that have good supplies and great qualities to drive consumer demand. There is an array of varieties available now, including SweeTango apples and new crop Cosmic Crisp.”

Stemilt notes that many retailers hit new highs with the share of Honeycrisp dollars and volume to the category in 2023 that are not going to be comped this year. The advice to return to multi-variety promotions on apples with a focus on varieties with larger supply, like Cosmic Crisp, as the way to make category gains.

“Cosmic Crisp is up a remarkable 57 percent year-over-year, and Stemilt has coined 2025 as the ‘year of the Cosmic Crisp.’ We are ready to help retailers promote this rising apple in fun and creative ways to officially make it part of their top performers in the category,” said Shales.

Keep a lookout for more ANUK reports as we continue to release category updates.