Prognosfruit 2003, in Cologne last Friday, predicted that this year's apple and pear production across Europe could be the lowest since 1997.
The glorious sunshine in Cologne may have been enjoyable for delegates the prolonged spell of hot weather across Europe has caused major production headaches.
Dr Willheim Ellinger, of ZMP Bonn, forewarned delegates that the volumes forecast at this point were likely to fall due to the continuing hot spells, and that more accurate figures would be a few weeks away. There could also be big problems with fruit size.
Production is likely to be down across most of Western Europe. Italy's forecast for 2003 is 2,038,000 tonnes down from 2,171,000t in 2002. French volume is predicted to fall from 1,966,000t to 1,918,000t and Belgium is forecasting a drop from 349,000t to 274,000t. Germany is expecting to see a rise from 767,000t to 867,000t, however Germany had a particularly bad 2002.
The Netherlands is expecting a minor increase of 15,000t on last year's figure of 370,000t but this is still someway behind the 2001 figure of 475,000t. The UK is also hoping for a minor increase from 124,000t to 133,000t.
Ellinger is confident that prices will improve on 2002 but with 50 per cent less rainfall across Western Europe, it looks likely to be a hard year.
Pear production is also likely to be hard hit this year with none of the EU states predicting an increase. France is predicting a fall from 237,000t to 189,000t and Italy is forecasting a decrease from 948,000t to 894,000t. Belgium also feels a tough year is ahead with predicted volume at 142,000t, down from 173,000t, and the UK expects a fall from 35,000t to 28,000t.
Of the non-EU states Lithuania is forecasting apples will be in for a good year, up from 120,000t to 180,000t and it was reported that 250-300 new orchards were planted in the last 12 months.
