The World Apple Report's eighth annual comparison of 28 major apple-producing countries, for 2003, placed France a very close third. These three countries were significantly ahead of the next five – Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, the US and Italy.

The report measures production efficiency across six different criteria, infrastructure and inputs across a further eight, and financial and market factors using another eight criteria.

Overall the report found that rankings have changed little since 2001, but there have been significant developments by subcategory with New Zealand slipping to joint fourth place with Belgium on production efficiency, behind the Netherlands, Austria and South Africa.

Chile tops the table on infrastructure and inputs which examines the adequacy of storage, packing, distribution, marketing, availability of water, labour and land, and input costs.

According to Christian Carvajal, European and Asian marketing manager at the Chilean Fresh Fruit Association in Santiago, Chile's high ranking can in part be explained by the youth of its fruit sector.

'This goes not just for apples, but as an industry we are relatively new,' he said. 'There was a huge explosion in activity in the early and late 1980s and large investments were made by the private sector in packhouses, cold storage and so on. We have responded to market demands and have a very modern infrastructure.' The report suggests that difficult economic conditions in many other producer-countries are hampering investment in modernisation.

However, Chile is only mid-table on production efficiency and according to Carvajal improvement on this position is within reach for growers.

'One of our main challenges is sun-damage to fruit,' he said. 'Some of our apple growers need to catch up when it comes to production efficiency and use some of the different techniques that are available. It can be done: our grape producers, for example, have been very quick to take up the latest technology and are some of the most advanced in the world.' Chile has also been moving across to bi-coloureds much more seriously since the mid-1990s with production volumes of Gala rising from 20,000t in 1994 to 140,000t exported last season.

But the report also warns that 'early adopters' of bi-coloured varieties such as Gala, Fuji and Braeburn may find their comparative advantage eroded by increasing competition. New Zealand is well placed when it comes to the next generation of new varieties through the development work of HortResearch.

The rate of growth of New Zealand's apple crop has also stagnated and is becoming more variable from year to year. And in an implied reference to the country's post-deregulation, the report warned: 'No clear trend has been apparent in improved marketing effectiveness as established marketing institutions continue to be dismantled and replacement systems continue to experiment.' However, Chile and New Zealand continue to lead the field in percentage of production exported with New Zealand boasting a massive 64 per cent between 2000 and 2002. This is slightly higher than usual and the figure could be influenced by the demise of Enza's export monopoly. Meanwhile Chile exports about 45 per cent of its crop.

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