This year’s English Braeburn apple crop volume was 82 per cent higher than last year, according to Worldwide Fruit’s Martin Luton.
Total crop volume stood at 7,633 tonnes, and average yield reached 20.3t, which is 68 per cent higher than last year’s record, even though the total area of orchards in England were only up by nine per cent.
Luton told members at the Top Fruit Storage Day at the East Malling conference centre, Kent, that they needed to make sure their figures are right to allow marketers to promote the apple properly. “This holds massive potential for the industry, and marketers need the information to prepare,” he said.
Luton went on to say that the Braeburn variety is making its way to the standard of Cox. “It used to be hard to market Braeburn before December, when it usually reached a good eating quality, but now it is a close second to Cox, and has done very well this year.”
The 2007 Braeburn harvest produced large-sized apples with a good skin finish. Fruit firmness was good and sugar levels were low, increasing slowly by 0.6 per cent a week once stored.
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