Southern hemisphere apple and pear production is pegged to hit 4.48m tonnes and 1.35m tonnes respectively in 2007, according to forecasts revealed at the annual general meeting of the World Apple and Pear Association (WAPA) earlier this month.
This represents an increase of 8.99 per cent from 2006 for apples, whilst pear quantities will see a slight boost of 0.05 per cent. However, the apple forecast falls 1.24 per cent below average 2003-2006 production, and pears 7.13 per cent below.
Discussions were also held on the European apple and pear stocks of January 1, 2007, totalling 3.14m tonnes and 627,671 tonnes respectively, a decrease of 6.5 per cent in apples from the year-earlier, but a slight increase in pear stocks. WAPA believes stock quality is higher than in previous years, so more northern hemisphere stored product is expected to find its way to the fresh market.
“The collation of these comprehensive statistics has hitherto provided sound information from the southern hemisphere, complementing in a similar format the data already existing for northern hemisphere production,” said Philippe Binard, WAPA secretary general.
Pierre Peres from Brazilian apple association ABPM, who was elected president of WAPA for the next two years during the meeting, said: “WAPA is firmly committed to coordinate industry-led steps to increase transparency on production and markets, and to facilitate the exchange of information for the global apple and pear business. We believe this forecasting exercise, along with other data exchange such as stocks and export forecasts, are a vital component of such progress.”
During the meeting, Alessandro Dalpiaz of Italian group Assomela was elected WAPA vice-president.
