During the ongoing marketing year apple prices remain firm above the historical reference period, as expected, due to a 'small' crop. Although the fresh market is doing well, some tensions are observed in the market of apples for processing; there is a relatively higher proportion of apples of lower quality or damaged by extreme weather events that can only go to the industry, especially in Poland.
WAPA/Prognosfruit delivered production forecasts for 21 Member States. The volume of the EU27 crop is expected to be about 10 585 thousand tonnes; the UK represents around 2% of the EU27 crop. We have indications pointing to a Polish crop even smaller than initially expected for reasons of extreme weather events and absence of sufficient labour because of the sanitary crisis.
The volume of the new crop is 1% below the preceding « small » crop and 7% less than the 5 year reference average.
The level of stocks has been low during the marketing year 2019/20 (15% below the reference 5 year average on 1 July 2020).
Given the small incoming volumes expected for the new crop, stocks should remain at low levels during the ongoing marketing year.
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