The World Apple and Pear Association (WAPA) has updated its forecast for the 2012 Southern Hemisphere topfruit campaign, revising initial figures downwards for both apples and pears.
In a statement, WAPA said that its consolidated crop forecast pegged the Southern Hemisphere apple crop at 5.46m tonnes, down 3 per cent on 2011, while pear volumes were expected to hit 1.39m tonnes, a drop of 10 per cent.
The initial WAPA forecast for 2012 was made at Fruit Logistica in February, and predicted that apple and pear production in the Southern Hemisphere would fall by 2 per cent and 1 per cent respectively year-on-year.
In terms of exports, WAPA predicted that apple shipments would drop 5 per cent to 1.64m tonnes, while pear exports could drop 5 per cent on the prior year to 655,960 tonnes.
One of the key driving forces behind the reduction was adverse weather conditions in Argentina, pushing the apple crop down 17 per cent to 869,000 tonnes from 1.05m tonnes in 2011, and the pear crop down 17 per cent to 697,000 tonnes from 843,000 tonnes last year.
For apples, Chile is set to lead the way this year by producing a crop of 1.8m tonnes (up 2 per cent on 2011), followed by Brazil with 1.2m tonnes (down 5 per cent), Argentina, South Africa (781,000 tonnes, stable), New Zealand (502,000 tonnes, -2 per cent) and Australia (298,000 tonnes, +13 per cent).
Despite its volume drop, Argentina will remain the leading producer in the Southern Hemisphere pear market, followed by South Africa (368,000 tonnes, +2 per cent), Chile (191,000 tonnes, -2 per cent), Australia (124,000 tonnes, -4 per cent) and New Zealand (10,000 tonnes, -9 per cent).
