The World Apple and Pear Association (WAPA) has forecast slight drops in production for the 2020 apple and pear crops of the Southern Hemisphere.
Forecasts were collected from the industry associations in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, New Zealand and South Africa, combined and released at the association’s AGM on the last day of the Fruit Logistica in Berlin (7 February).
Southern Hemisphere apple production is tipped to reach just over 5m tonnes in 2020, a 1 per cent decrease from the 2019 total. Pear production is predicted to reach 1.276m tonnes in 2020, a 3 per cent decrease on the previous year.
For apples, exports are expected to remain stable at 1.725m tonnes. Chile is expected to hold its position as the Southern Hemisphere’s largest producer with a forecast of 1.54m tonnes, despite a drop of 8 per cent from 2019.
Gala will remain the most popular variety with production increasing 1 per cent from 2019 to 1.959m tonnes. Other notable changes from 2019 include predictions that production of Braeburn will drop 11 per cent in 2020 while Golden Delicious production is forecast to grow by 4 per cent.
When it comes to pears, Southern Hemisphere exports are predicted to decrease by 2 per cent to 691,660 tonnes. All countries are expecting to see a decrease in production with the largest drop of 15,000 tonnes (7 per cent) attributed to Chile.
The final update of the Northern Hemisphere production forecast (released in August 2019), was also released in Berlin.
Overall, the Northern Hemisphere forecasts demonstrated a huge variation in crop sizes due to the consequences of climatic havocs impacting production.
Furthermore, Eurasian apple growing developments, global reporting initiatives, marketing, promotion and consumption trends, and research and innovation activities were discussed at the AGM.
