Long lasting cold affects apple production in Brazil

This year will be marked by a new drop in apple production in las Palmas, the fruit production center in the mid-south of Paraná (Brazil). Producers started the harvesting of Gala a week ago. Initial results point to a drop of 20% to 25% on the expectations of 12,000 tons. Meaning that production will be around 10,000 tons, which represents a reduction of 5,000 tons regarding the amounts of 2011, as reported by Gazeta do Povo.

"Losses were caused by the long lasting cold of Autumn", commented Josemar Bannach Fonseca, agronomy engineer from the Department of Rural Economy (DERAL) in Las Palmas. To ease the situation, producers must reach better results in the harvesting of the Fuji variety, starting in the coming weeks.

The price for a quality apple per kilo is around R$1 for the producer. The majority, not complying with quality and average sale price, gets R$0.50, which is considered to be a low price. The average prices will be between 10% to 30% above last years indexes - R$0.90 from 2008 to 2010. The crisis in the sector reaches the whole country, since there's no excess of national production. Apple consumption in Brazil is still small, around 4 to 5 kilos per capita.

Author: Carolina Mainardes, translated by FreshPlaza