US fresh apple holdings down compared to 2020 U.S. fresh-market apple holdings are down 11.1 percent compared to this time last year. According to the U.S. Apple Association (USApple), which just released the February 2021 edition of its Market News, fresh-market apple holdings were at 78.1 million bushels on February 1, 2021. That’s 11.1 percent less than February 1, 2020 when holdings were at 87.9 million bushels. It’s also 6.1 percent less than the five-year average of 83.2 million bushels. Growers look towards climate to explain the drop. As Brett Baker of United Apple Sales of Lyndonville, NY notes, key growing regions such as Washington produced a smaller crop and Pennsylvania and Michigan also didn’t have large crops. “And I’d say New York has an average crop,” says Baker.