The top-fruit world converges on Kent next week for the annual European apple and pear event, Prognosfruit, and an international audience reflects the strides being made to encourage a global approach from a previously disparate sector.

That the delegate list encompasses a number of representatives of producer nations outside the EU is testament to the success of the World Apple & Pear Association (WAPA), which has got the whole world talking, if not yet holding hands, and addressing common issues.

One of the key drivers behind the formation of WAPA was a need for the global industry to improve sharing of supply volume and scheduling information, to avert the ruinous volume pile-ups that have caused so much heartache for the supply chain in the past. Collaboration is not absolute, of course, and in a competitive world it would perhaps be naive to expect that. But many of the black holes that previously existed, due to the lack of availability of accurate information, have been removed, and the apple and pear category is the beneficiary.

There are many varying problems facing growers, importers and customers in the UK, and the virtual removal of the spectre of uncertainty surrounding top-fruit arrivals in European waters is welcome. Prognosfruit, hosted this year by English Apples & Pears, provides another opportunity to tighten those ties.