U.S. stone fruit — the season where pre-cooling decides everything.
Pacific Northwest sweet cherries, California peaches, nectarines, plums, pluots, and apricots — moved by air on PMC and LD7 ULDs from May through September into the GCC, Turkey, the Caucasus, and Central Asia.
Stone fruit is unforgiving. That's why it pays.
Stone fruit is the category where supplier quality is most visible to the buyer. A late truck on a peach packout, a cool-room dwell that drifts a few degrees, a cherry shipment that didn't hit hydro-cooling within four hours of pick — these turn into soft, mealy, decayed product on the receiving dock. There is no hiding it.
That risk is also the opportunity. Buyers who can land U.S. stone fruit in good condition can price it accordingly. Modern-trade retail chains across the GCC and Central Asia treat U.S. Bing and Rainier cherries as a premium-tier program. The same logic applies to white-flesh California peaches and nectarines.
The U.S. air-cargo cherry industry alone moves approximately 40,000 tonnes annually — the equivalent of around 400 fully loaded Boeing 777 freighter flights — across roughly an eight-week peak window. Roughly half of that lifts from Seattle (SeaTac). The rest moves through LAX, ORD, and JFK. The Port of Seattle alone has hosted multi-million-pound seasons of cherry-on-freighter exports through SeaTac in recent years. That's the supply pool we draw from.
When each stone fruit category ships.
The U.S. stone fruit calendar is short and dense. May is the opening; September is the closing. The cherry window inside that is even tighter — that's where program planning matters most.
Pack styles by category.
Stone fruit pack styles vary more than most categories. The pack is what determines arrival condition almost as much as the cold chain.
| Cherry — gusseted bag | 5 kg (~11 lb) gusseted bag in master carton. Wholesale-program default. |
|---|---|
| Cherry — clamshell | 12×2 lb or 18×1 lb clamshells in master carton. Retail / private-label standard. |
| Peach — single-layer flat | 12.5 lb (~5.7 kg) tray-pack. 25, 30, 36, 42, 50, 56 count. Premium pack. |
| Peach — bushel | 25 lb volume-fill carton. Wholesale market default. |
| Nectarine | 12.5 lb single-layer or 25 lb volume-fill. Same counts as peach. |
| Plum / pluot | 28 lb carton, 36–50 count typical. |
| Apricot | 24 lb single-layer carton. |
| Grading | USDA No.1 standard. Premium / Extra-Fancy grades available for HORECA programs. |
Cold chain — the part that decides the shipment.
If a stone-fruit packer doesn't have hydro-cooling for cherries or forced-air for peaches, they shouldn't be on your export program. This is the part where most claims start.
| Cherries — hydro-cool | Pulped to 0–2°C within 4 hours of harvest. Non-negotiable. |
|---|---|
| Peaches / nectarines — forced-air | Pre-cooled to 0–2°C within hours of packout. |
| Cool-room hold | -0.5 to +1°C, 90% RH. Same band as transit. |
| Air cargo ULD set-point | +1 to +2°C target label; cool-room reference held through tender. |
| Tender cut-off | Trucking dispatched against airline acceptance window. Cool-room dwell at the airport monitored. |
| Temperature data | Where the packer or 3PL provides loggers, the data joins the shipment file. |
“A peach that gets a six-hour ambient gap on its way to the cool room is a peach that will be soft on arrival. That gap doesn't show on the bill of lading — it shows on the buyer's dock.”
Where we ship U.S. stone fruit.
Stone-fruit lanes follow the modern-trade map. Where retail chains have committed cool-room capability, programs run easily. Where they don't, we route via re-export hubs.
How USME runs a stone-fruit program differently.
Because stone fruit is high-risk, the standard supplier behavior is "ship and hope, settle low." We don't do that.
Starting a stone-fruit program.
- Cherry programs: capacity reserved March–April for the June–August window.
- Peach / nectarine programs: capacity confirmed by April for May–September.
- Plum / pluot / apricot: typically incremental on top of stone-fruit programs.
- Vendor pre-cooling discipline confirmed before the season opens.
- Pack style, grade, and weekly volume locked in writing.
- Cold-chain set-point and tender protocol confirmed with airline build-up handler.
Frequently asked questions
Which U.S. stone fruit categories does USME ship?
Sweet cherries (Bing, Rainier, Chelan, Skeena, Sweetheart, Lapin) from the Pacific Northwest; peaches, nectarines (yellow and white flesh), plums, pluots, and apricots from California. Each has a different season window and a different cold-chain profile — we work the calendar across all of them.
When is the U.S. stone fruit export season?
California peaches, nectarines, plums, and apricots run roughly May through September. Pacific Northwest cherries are the tightest window — typically mid-June through mid-August, sometimes stretching into late August in larger crop years. Outside these windows U.S. stone fruit doesn't ship commercially; other origins fill the gap.
How does USME ship Pacific Northwest cherries to the Middle East and Asia?
Cherries are an air-cargo-only category. Approximately 40,000 tonnes of Pacific Northwest cherries are exported annually — the equivalent of around 400 fully loaded Boeing 777 freighter flights. Roughly half of that volume flies out of Seattle (SeaTac); the rest leaves through LAX, ORD, and JFK. The transit window is short and the cold-chain handling has to be exact.
What pack styles does USME use for U.S. stone fruit?
Cherries: 5 kg (~11 lb) gusseted bags or 18×1 lb (or 12×2 lb) clamshells in a master carton. Peaches and nectarines: 12.5 lb (~5.7 kg) single-layer flats or 25 lb cartons. Plums: 28 lb cartons. Apricots: 24-lb single layer. Modern-trade retail programs typically take clamshells with private-label printing.
What is the cold-chain temperature for U.S. stone fruit?
Stone fruit targets -0.5 to +1°C with 90% RH. Cherries in particular need to drop to that range within hours of pick (hydro-cooling at packout) and never drift up. Peaches and nectarines tolerate slightly more, but a chain that drifts to +5°C produces the soft, mealy product that drives claim disputes. USME confirms set-points in writing before build-up.
Can USME ship U.S. cherries to Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Turkey, and Kazakhstan?
Yes. All four are active markets in our cherry book during the June–August window. Saudi Arabia (JED, RUH) and the UAE (DXB) are the largest GCC destinations. Turkey (IST) and Kazakhstan (ALA) have growing modern-trade demand for premium U.S. cherries. Lanes are tight and capacity should be pre-booked — cherries fill quickly during peak weeks.
Why are U.S. cherry programs harder to plan than other fruit?
Three reasons. First, the season is short — six to eight weeks. Second, weather events at harvest (rain in particular) can compress weekly volumes. Third, airline capacity tightens as multiple shippers compete for the same lanes in the peak two-week window. Buyers who book program capacity early get product. Buyers who try to spot-buy in week 4 often don't.
What does USME do differently on stone fruit claims?
Stone fruit is the highest-claim-risk category in our book. We pre-screen vendors based on their pre-cooling discipline, we hold the cold-chain record per ULD, and on the rare real claim we work it with the vendor, the build-up handler, or the airline based on what the record shows. We don't expect buyers to inflate claims — see /quality.