The Polish apple industry might be having a record harvest year, it hasn’t resulted in a dream scenario. Although the question of whether Poland can get rid of its apples arises every year, some extra problems seem to have come up this season. The Polish workforce is about half as strong as it was last year, Emilia Lewandowska from Polish trade company Fruit-Group explains.
The apple season in Poland comes with two faces. On one side the country has had an exceptionally good season due to great weather conditions and massive volumes of crops. Lewandowska feels confident they’ll get rid of all their harvested apples: “We’re looking to step into some new markets, but we already export our apples in big volumes to countries like Germany. Other countries in Europe, the Middle East, Egypt or India are also good customers for Polish apples. The quality of the apples is great though and they have a very deep red color. I do expect the same as in the last seasons, that most of our apples will be sold to the industry for processing, like for fruit juices and such.”
The other side of the apple season this year is a bit more worrying. There had already been word from Poland claiming they didn’t have the workforce to pick all their apples. Fruit-Group company is an organization that groups together 160 growers. Some of which have indeed indicated they don’t have the manpower this year. “Last season some of these growers would have 8 to 10 people picking the apples, now they only have 5. It’s also a problem that these workers know we’re in need of them and start asking a very high salary for their work. A salary that we can’t pay them as long as the prices for the apples are as low as they are now. Growers wouldn’t be able to make a profit if they paid their workers these huge salaries.”
There is still hope though, as every year in the autumn the Polish export goes up slowly, which means a higher price could be asked in about a month. With higher prices come more opportunities for workers. Lewandowska does wonder about the full volume of Poland though: “Some sources say Poland will harvest 4 million tonnes of apples, other sources claim it’s over 4.5 million tonnes. We won’t know for sure until the true data comes in, but overall I feel Poland will do well this season.”
Fruit-Group will attend Fruit Attraction in Madrid from the 23rd to the 25th of October. You can find their stand in Hall 9 - 9D11.
For more information:
Emilia Lewandowska
Fruit-Group SP.z.o.o.
Tel: +48 48 32 03028
Email: exportemilia@fruitgroup.pl
www.fruitgroup.pl/
www.facebook.com/fruitgroupzszoo/