Europe's largest single supplier of apples, the Italian association VOG, has welcomed the news that this season's crop will be below 11m tonnes, a forecast which suggests there is likely to be good balance between supply in demand across the European Union.
VOG chairman Georg Kössler and chief executive Gerhard Dichgans were in Ljubljana, Slovenia, last week for the annual Prognosfruit apple industry meeting, where forecasts for the 2011/12 European campaign were released for the first time.
Whereas in 2010 the European apple harvest was among the lowest of the past decade, this season the crop is expected to reach 10.2m tonnes, with full production in the countries of western Europe.
However, an anticipated downturn in supply from eastern Europe, where spring frosts have had an impact on production, should create positive trading conditions for many of Europe's major apple suppliers.
Dichgans commented: 'This situation will give us greater leeway in our traditional end markets, where commercial activities will not be affected by competition from countries on this side of Europe, but will instead offer us – as was indeed the case last season – interesting export channels starting from the winter months.'
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