Harvest of organic apples down 26% in the EU

The European harvest of organic apples is expected to be 26 per cent smaller than last year’s harvest. In Germany, the organic apple production will even decrease by more than half. That is the estimate of the Europäisches Bioobst Forum (EBF). The trend of an annually rising harvest of organic apples is therefore broken. The many night frosts and a considerable June dropping are the cause of the small harvest.

While last year’s small Austrian harvest could be compensated by production from other cultivation areas, productions are low everywhere this year. Growing demand for organic apples will therefore not be met this year. To still be able to realise year-round supply for buyers, fewer actions will be held towards food trade this year, according to the expectations of the AMI.

In Germany alone, consumer spending on organic apples amounted to 52 million euro in the first half of 2017. That is 18 per cent more than in the same period in 2016. Parallel to rising sales, production increased by 18,000 tonnes. Consumer purchases generally move along with the production. When there’s a large harvest, more apples are sold. When the harvest is small, more apples are imported, but consumers then tend to be more reserved in their purchases.

Source: NFO