It’s true apple weather, but not without irrigation installations

The top fruit market is doing well at the moment. “Demand for apples is good. We’ll finish Elstar late May, and that’s much earlier than last year. Quality is fairly good, and pack-out is much higher, so that growers with mid-prices will profit more. But after all, it’s true apple weather, consumption is much lower when it’s 30 ºC,” says Zweer van Aalsburg from FruitMasters. “There are also fewer pears than last year, and we’ll definitely sell all of them. Pear prices are, depending on size, at a level between 60 and 90 cent. For Elstar, prices for small sizes (65) are around 50/55 cent, the 75s are sold or 80 cent, and some exceptions of nearly one euro were recorded at auction today. For pears, sales are very broad, the apple sales remain limited to the domestic market and the far destinations.”

The damages as a consequence of night frost varies greatly in the Netherlands. “In the Betuwe, we have many irrigation options, but large parts of Limburg don’t, and in Zeeland it varies per grower. We’ll have to wait and see what the actual damage is,” Zweer continues. “It’s a disaster for some growers. Last year, growers in Limburg were affected by hail damage, and now they also have frost damage. The damage is even worse in Belgium, compared to the Netherlands, and the next few weeks will show the severity of the consequences for Central Europe. Poland is a bit behind with its flowering period, and the consequences seem limited for now.”