Poland: “Nobody has a back-up plan for the large quantity of apples”

The apples of Poland are the talk of the day, with record harvests and a shiny future for the farmers. Or is it? Some companies state they don’t have the workforce to harvest the apples, while others say that unless big companies start ordering higher volumes, they won’t be able to sell all of the produce.

The problem of the oversupply in Polish apples could have been foreseen in the season of 2014/2015, Karol Jakubowski of Inter-Trade claims: “Since the embargo from Russia we’ve been producing more and more apples, but with less options to sell them to. Back then we had a domestic promotion of eating apples. Due to it being a low priced fruit that is actually healthy for you, more Polish people would consume the apples and we got rid of them all. What also helped was the message that eating apples would be standing up against Putin. This year is different as nobody is eating apples to anger Putin, so the full crop won’t be sold.”

Poland might become a record-holder for harvesting apples in a single season, other countries however aren’t exactly taking the season off: “Apples are being cultivated all over Europe and everywhere the crops have been good. This means countries, for example the Czech Republic, are actually protecting themselves and make you jump through hoops to sell Polish apples there. Importers have to inform a lot of departments before our apples are accepted in those countries, which makes the Polish apples less attractive,” Jakubowski continues.