The output of apples in Shandong province is lower than last year. The first reason for this reduced production is the serious drought conditions which affected the health of the trees. A second reason is the decreased investments that fruit farmers have carried out towards their orchards, which was a direct consequence of last year's low apple prices. The third reason is the update of the orchards. They chopped down more apple trees between last winter and this spring than ever before in Shandong province. This has also had a certain impact on the output of apples in Shandong this year.
The droughts in Shandong province and Liaoning province this year were very serious. Two of the main producing locations in China will suffer from reduced output because of these droughts. At the present time, it looks as if the output of apples will keep on tumbling down in the future, as long as no other natural disasters occur. Although only producers in the eastern part of the country suffer from reduced output, apples from large plantations in the west and middle of the country have already entered the last stages on the market, which allows them to still make up for the deficiency to some degree. Moreover, the flowering season for apples has been long this year, with temperatures changing frequently and a mild winter. So, fortunately, the majority of the fruits still bore fruit.