According to the World Apple and Pear Association, UK apple volumes are down by 15 per cent, some 191,000 tonnes. It makes for a challenging picture at a time when the industry should be taking advantage of the current celebration of all things British.
The Bramley Apple Association, for instance, has already found that since the start of July, there have been insufficient stocks to ensure continuous availability until new season apples were ready to market. “Unfortunately this will lead to some shortages early August,” says a spokesman.
“Due to adverse weather conditions initial indications suggest that the 2012-13 crop will be about seven per cent lower than last year and the start of the season will be three weeks later. However, predictions are difficult because of wide variations between crops of different orchards and uncertainty about weather during the coming weeks.”
Andrew Lazenby, commercial manger for Waitrose’s Leckford Estate, sums up the situation as being a “tough year for top fruit”. At the moment it looks like the estate’s mainly Cox orchards will produce only 75 per cent of its normal yield of fruit. “We’ve had really difficult
conditions,” he concedes. “It was very, very dry in the early part of the year. We then had a period of cold, grey weather just in April when we were looking for fruitset. On one tree there might be 30 apples on it when it should have 200.”
A spokesman for Waitrose says the supermarket is aware of the implications the decrease in yields across the UK apple varieties will have on growers. “The season is also 10 days later than last year and growers have a number of challenges that they face this year with skin defects on the fruit,” he adds. “Waitrose will be supporting the growers with a blemished bag again this season, as the fruit will still taste fantastic, but just be slightly less appealing to the eye.
“This bag was launched last year to support Waitrose growers based in the eastern counties, but this year it will be for the growers over Kent, Herefordshire and Hampshire.”
Waitrose will be stocking an exclusive variety of Suffolk Pink from the end of August and plans to sell some 50 different apple varieties grown in the UK over the course of the season, as well as eight pear varieties.
However, there are glimmers of light with marketer Norman Collett reporting that growers have been finding more fruit - and good quality fruit - then it expected. “British top-fruit growers have faced one of their most challenging seasons; the adverse weather conditions have meant that growers have had to overcome many hurdles to produce a quality crop,” commented Andy Sadler, Norman Collett’s managing director. “Speaking with growers over the last few days, this hard work has paid off as there is a smaller than anticipated, but quality crop out there”.
This is also the picture being reported by supermarkets. Sainsbury’s fresh produce team, for example, has been talking to growers and finding that while volumes are down, what is available tastes great. This is also the situation with pears. “If you have pears, than you have good pears,” says the supermarket’s product technologist Theresa Huxley.
The supermarket will also be continuing with its commitment to taking tasty but blemished top fruit for its Basics range.
Steve Maxwell, commercial director at Worldwide Fruit, says that while volumes are down compared to last year, 2011 was in fact a record year for yields. “The good news is that the English apples and pears industry is in great shape,” he explains. “This has just been a blip, we have not had weather like this for 25 years. Everything that can go wrong weather wise went wrong, but that’s not because of the industry.”
Maxwell says his team is keeping clients up to date with developments but for some varieties it is too early to tell how much the crop will be down.
Chief executive of English Apples & Pears, Adrian Barlow, says the information that he’s gathered from the growers the organisation represents shows that Braeburn will be down by 30 per cent. However, there will be higher volumes of Gala.
“While it is a disappointing crop, it is not the disaster the consumer press are making it out to be,” he adds.
“Yes there are growers who have sadly lost their entire crop, but that is not the overall picture. There are many growers who will have a reasonable year.” -
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