EU apple crop shrinks amid continued climate uncertainty

Europe’s increasingly unsettled climate continues to cause a decline in apple yields, particularly in the eastern part of the continent, it has emerged.

The EU is on course to produce its smallest apple crop in seven years, and its second-smallest in a decade, at just over 10.2m tonnes this season.

That forecast was revealed by the World Apple & Pear Association on Thursday 8 August at the annual topfruit industry event Prognosfruit – held this year in the Hungarian capital Budapest – and incorporates figures reported by the EU’s 20 main apple-producing countries.

Despite longer-term concerns over the sector’s viability in the face of environmental and economic pressures, the announcement has prompted cautious optimism among growers and suppliers who see potential for good prices this season as market demand and consumer spending power continues to recover.

“We see a slightly better market situation, for example in Germany, where wages have recovered and inflation has gone down,” said Helwig Schwartau, market analyst at AMI. “Retail prices are increasing, but there has been little impact on sales. So we think the apple industry should fight for unchanged retail prices.”

Schwartau said he anticipated the EU’s total apple volume for the fresh market would be significantly lower at around 6.3m tonnes, with 1.7m tonnes from eastern Europe and 4.6m tonnes from western Europe.

But in the latter part of the continent, he predicted, production will be 22 per cent down in northern countries like Germany, and 1 per cent up in southern countries such as Italy.

“I think this makes it very interesting for western Europe,” he observed. “The average euro price per 100g could possibly be higher at around 75-90 euro cents.”

He added: “As far as current stocks are concerned, we see a very good starting position for next season in Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and Poland, but in Italy, France, and Spain there is more of a challenge.”