Eric Borton, vice president of international sales & marketing at Borton & Sons Inc., said demand for apples is good across the board. “Domestically, we are featuring Gala, Fuji and Honeycrisp as well as merchandising the full complement of bag programs,” he told The Produce News. “This includes mixed variety bags, mixed fruit bags, as well as holiday bag programs.”

With Chinese New Year just around the corner, Borton said Red Delicious, Gala and Fuji are very popular varieties, especially in the Asian markets. “This is an important sales period as it is a key time to ship export volume leading into Chinese New Year across Asia,” he added. “In many other parts of the world, holiday business is very important as well. We do well in Mexico and Latin America in preparation for Christmas and New Years Celebrations.”

Taken as a whole, the company markets 25-30 percent of its apple volume at this time of year, with roughly 30 percent of this volume moving to Mexico, Canada and offshore destinations.

“Our goal is to supply our retail partners with product for as much of the year as conditions will allow, keeping production schedules consistent to allow for reliable and quality supply throughout the year,” Borton stated.

Due to the smaller sized fruit this season, Borton said the company is pushing its two-pound soft net bags for 2 1/4-inch and 2 1/2-inch sized fruit. “We also pack and market a two-pound mixed fruit bag in the smaller fruits for smaller appetites,” he continued, saying the bags include one to two apple varieties along with mandarins or clementines.

Borton & Sons has updated and redesigned all its varietal cards to further its branding of Borton fruit. “We are also still promoting our ‘Fresh’ label we introduced last year along with the new secondary Fresh Washington Apple display bins,” he said. “More retailers seem to be coming on board with trying out our mobile bagged fruit merchandising rack option in their stores. This rack rolls conveniently and can be placed anywhere in the grocery store. Stores can display any of our two-, three-, four- and five-pound soft net bags in any single or mixed variety.”

The company also redesigned its website to feature information about the family, which has been a leader in the tree fruit industry for over 100 years. “Visitors can learn how we have grown and evolved over the century we have been in business, check out a plethora of fantastic recipes for all of our products, see the latest company news and get some really cool insights into our state-of-the-art farming practices,” Borton explained.

The site also features the Rockit apple, a new specialty snack size variety being marketed in partnership with Chelan Fresh Marketing.