"A smaller apple production is expected in Europe for the 2012/2013 season, going down to 9.7 million tonnes (a 9% fall)." So says Gerhard Dichgans, director of Consorcio VOG, who looks at the next few months with optimism after the predictions for the season were presented at the Prognosfruit annual event, held in Toulouse between 2 and 4 August.
Prospects for the next season point to a growth of Polish production and sharp falls in Central and Western Europe. "Poland will have a good harvest and will also be a great exporter, especially to neighbouring countries and particularly to Eastern Europe and Russia. However, bad weather and problems encountered during the pollination period have damaged the production in France, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands, causing it to fall by 30% compared to the previous campaign. This will have a major impact on market balances and trade flows. In the foreign markets where we traditionally operate, supply from competitors will be very limited, which will have obvious consequences for the price of apples."
Consorcio VOG is finishing a season which started with great difficulties. Dichgans says that "the beginning of the 2011/12 campaign was hard because of an excess in production in many countries, such as Germany. The reversal of this tendency was confirmed by the end of April, beginning of May, when it was obvious that fewer amounts of fruit than expected would be coming from the Southern Hemisphere.
Golden and Braeburn, the red and bi-colour apples, have always been well demanded, reinforced by great interest from the North American and Middle East markets. Right now only a few tonnes of Golden are left, which will be destined to clients demanding us to maintain supply levels of the variety until the new harvest."
Source: Interempresas