The consumption of two well-known varieties, Jonagold and Elstar, is decreasing. In Belgium, Jonagold is the best-known and still the most popular apple variety, but a decline can be seen. In 2010, an average Belgian household ate 12.9 kilograms of Jonagold. In 2016, that figure had decreased by two kilograms, to 8.9 kilograms. Belgians also eat Elstar apples, but only few. In 2010 it was 0.7 kilogram, but in 2016 consumption only amounted to half a kilogram.
As for Elstar in the Netherlands, the story is similar. In 2010, the Dutch ate 8.1 kilograms of Elstar, and in 2016 that was only 6.4 kilograms. Jonagold and Jonagored are eaten more by the Dutch than the Belgians consume Elstar, but this is decreasing as well. The consumption per household was at 5 kilograms in 2010, and 3 kilograms per household in 2016.
Club varieties
According to Michel Schrijnemaekers from Fruitveiling Zuid-Limburg there will definitely be a future for Elstar and Jonagold. “Consumption and the area are decreasing, but in my opinion, there will still be a market for it for now. But it’s clearly visible that Elstar and Jonagold are losing part of the market to club varieties. The market will therefore never be as big as it was in the past. That share has just been taken over.”
The Fruitveiling Zuid-Limburg therefore invested considerably in club varieties. “We now supply club varieties to certain customers, to whom we supplied Elstar and Jonagold in the past.” According to him, the areas of these varieties have also declined significantly. “Especially the old plots are being grubbed up, that’s the case for both Elstar and Jonagold. And other varieties are often planted in their stead. These are more profitable compared to free varieties. We saw this development coming years ago, and with our producers, we responded to that market.”
Michel says there are definitely no shortages of Elstar or Jonagold. “‘Too few’ will express itself in a higher price, and that hasn’t been the case in past seasons. Prices were very mediocre to bad for these two varieties.” He says that’s the disadvantage of free varieties. “Everyone can do with it what they want, and they are grown everywhere. Even in countries where production costs are much lower. That’s not the case with these specific club varieties.” Yet part of the producers continue to choose free varieties. “Those growers don’t want to be committed to anything at all, and I respect that. They want to be entrepreneurs, and that’s their choice. Only time will tell if they were right or wrong. They can see for themselves the returns of the club varieties.”
Origin becoming less important
There’s another possibility that these free varieties will get higher prices. “When other countries stop producing them and the area continues to decrease, prices of Jonagold and Elstar might recover. But Poland is a very large Jonagold producer, and Germany grows many Elstar apples, so I don’t see that happening anytime soon. It doesn’t matter anymore where it’s grown. Unfortunately, origin is becoming less important for apples. But I think we should be proud of our Dutch product. Not just the growers, but all links in the supply chain. We grow a high-quality product here.”
Michel has been active in the fruit sector for a very long time. He indicates that certain varieties have definitely disappeared over the years. “A variety like Cox has as good as disappeared. That was a great variety 20-25 years ago. James Grieve and Early Tydeman are also two names that used to be very well-known and popular. Another great variety was Lombarts Calville. We sold quite a number of kilograms of these apples, but they no longer exist. On the one hand, it’s a natural development that varieties disappear, but certain varieties stick around longer. Take Golden Delicious or Boskoop, for example. These are very old varieties, but they’re still around.” He thinks development and succession of certain varieties will be quicker in future. “Everything is happening quicker in this day and age. I expect apple varieties will be succeeded after 10 or 15 years. Cultivation techniques, development and productions: everything is continually being improved.” The manager sees mutual competition for apples increasing. “But with other types of fruit as well. That was different 25 years ago. If you went to the supermarket in winter, you wouldn’t find much other fruit besides apples. They almost always had good prices in winter back then. Especially around Christmas, because people liked buying an extra bag of apples then. That is very different nowadays. We eat ‘regular’ apples during the week, it’s no longer special.”
Consumer decides
“Years ago, the decision to grow new varieties was mostly the grower’s, but it has switched to consumers. The consumers decide what we should grow. If they want hard, red apples, we should make that happen. It’s as simple as that.” In future, shelf life will be just as important as flavour, according to Michel. He personally prefers Joly Red apples. “That’s my favourite apple, and I love this sweet variety. Joly Red has a good shelf life as well, and it's always crunchy. It’s the variety of the future. We don’t have the volumes we want to have, so we’re going to devote ourselves to more production. Besides domestically, there are also various Asian markets that like this variety and pay good money for it. Joly Red is booming business.”